


Girl Meets Faking It

by princessdiana



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Angst, Coming Out, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-30
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:57:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8459149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessdiana/pseuds/princessdiana
Summary: Riley and Maya pretend to be lesbians to be popular. Well, at least Riley does.





	1. you know how i've always wanted lesbian friends? they're perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Heavily based off of this gifset [ here ](http://karmaashcroft.tumblr.com/post/130840430017/rilaya-week-day-five-one-au-rilaya-as-karmy), and the similarities between Karma and Amy on Faking It with Riley and Maya on GMW. Hope you enjoy.

"Riley, are we really going through with this?" Maya asked her best friend, who was dressed head to toe in a communist uniform.   
  
"For the millionth time, yes!" Riley replied. "This is going to get me to be popular. I've tried being a Harajuku girl which only got me popular with five extremely unpopular geeks, I tried being goth which just got me a trip to the guidance counselor's office, but this has to work. It's genius. When I go to school dressed like this, we'll finally be in the in crowd and get an invite to Zay Babineaux's party."  
  
"How are you going to explain why you're wearing a communist outfit and why you're acting like this?" Maya questioned her friend.   
  
"I'll tell them that over the summer I went to Cuba with my parents and I really loved their government ideals."  
  
"Cuba? Riles, you can barely speak one sentence in Spanish," Maya pointed out.   
  
"They're not going to ask me to speak Spanish," Riley replied and added, "Plus, you can help me out with that part."  
  
"Who says I'm going to help you out with your ridiculous plan?"   
  
"Because you looooove me."

* * *

 

Riley and Maya walked into Abigail Adams High School, with their arms linked together like they always did. Riley tried to walk stiffly so to give off a communist vibe while Maya simply rolled her eyes at her best friend. She loved Riley, she did, but she would never understand her incessant need to be popular, and she certainly didn't understand why Riley would change herself to be popular when she loved the goofball exactly the way she was.   
  
"See? People are already staring," Riley whispered, taking Maya out of her thoughts.   
  
"I don't know if it's the good kind of staring, honey," Maya said.   
  
"Stop being such a Negative Nancy," Riley said with a big smile. "I believe in this."  
  
"Then I believe in it too, because I believe in you," Maya told her. And she did.   
  
They started walking faster when they heard the first bell, but they accidentally bumped into Missy, someone who had been known to torment the two.   
  
"Watch where you're going!" Missy exclaimed.   
  
"I'm sorry," Riley squeaked.   
  
"No, she's not, this ain't North Korea, we can walk where we want, Missy," Maya retorted, standing up for Riley.   
  
"Whatever," Missy huffed. "Why don't you go back to your Isle of Lesbos?"   
  
Behind Missy were the two most popular people in the entire grade, Zay Babineaux and Lucas Friar. When Zay overheard that, he said, "Making fun of gay people is so last century, Missy. Why don't you crawl back into the hole where you belong?"   
  
"Thanks for that," Maya said, giving them a grateful smile. "I don't know what her deal is."   
  
"She's terrible, the other day, I sat where she normally sits for lunch and she told me that I was going to hell," Zay said, with a laugh. "I'm Zay and this is Lucas."   
  
"I know," Riley said, a little too quickly. "I mean um...nice to meet you. I'm Riley. This is Maya."   
  
"You two should come to our party tonight, it's gonna be lit," Zay said, offering them a slip of paper with his address on it.   
  
"Thanks, we'll be there!" Riley exclaimed, with a grin. "We should probably get going to class, I think the bell's about to ring. Let's go, Peaches."   
  
After Riley and Maya left to go to their class, Zay commented to Lucas, "You know how I've always wanted lesbian friends?"   
  
Lucas nodded.  
  
"They're perfect."


	2. all hail the queens

Maya sat in the bay window, while she looked at Riley try on every piece of clothing in her wardrobe.

“Peaches, can you believe we’re going to the party of the year?!” Riley exclaimed, while she held up a yellow floral top and a purple sequined one next to each other. “Which one?”

“The yellow one.” Maya picked the yellow one because yellow was one of her favorite colors and Riley was one of her favorite people, so combining the two just seemed to make sense to her. If she were being honest though, she knew Riley would look good in anything because Riley always looked good in Maya’s eyes. While Riley was rummaging through her vast wardrobe, Maya opted to just wear a plaid flannel and jeans.

“I’m so excited! Maybe I’ll get to talk to Lucas Friar,” Riley said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Okay, weirdo.”

* * *

Walking into Zay Babineaux’s party was overwhelming Riley. She had never really been to a proper high school party before. (Her wild parties usually just consisted of her and Maya binge watching Red Planet Diaries while eating an alarming amount of ice cream.) All the people at the party were loud and for some reason, people seemed to be taking off their clothes.

“People act _very_ different when they're at school,” Riley observed.

“They sure do,” Maya said, her voice laced with disdain.

“I'm gonna get us some food!” Riley announced, letting go of Maya’s hand.

“Bring me back some pretzels.”

“You got it, Peaches.”

Riley got up out of her seat and headed to the kitchen on a mission to get snacks. Ever the klutz, she ended up bumping noses with just the boy just wanted to: Lucas Friar.

“I'm so sorry,” the boy apologized. “I didn't see you there.”

“It's okay, don't worry about it, I'm clumsy, super clumsy, trip over my own feet, even sometimes just trip over air.” She noticed herself starting to ramble and awkwardly reached around Lucas to grab the pretzels and put them in a cup for Maya and herself.

“Getting stuff for your girlfriend?”

“Excuse me?”

“Maya.”

“Oh, my girl friend,” Riley said, naively thinking that he meant it platonically. “Yeah, she likes salty things so...pretzels!” She held up the cup, flashing Lucas a smile.

He laughed and smoothed his hair over with his hand. Riley felt the butterflies in her stomach erupt. They stood there in an (uncomfortable) silence for what felt like minutes but was probably only seconds.

“Well I'll let you get back to your lady,” he said.

 _My lady?_ Riley thought to herself. _That's odd, I don't remember calling Maya my lady._

* * *

Maya sat outside on the Babineaux’s porch, trying to get away from all the partying going on. Maya loved a good party but this was a bit much, especially with everyone taking off their clothes for no reason.

“Hey, I'm glad you made it!” Zay called m, tapping Maya on the shoulder.

“Yeah, thanks for inviting us, my friend Riley is getting us pretzels - she's better at talking with people than I am.”

It was true, Riley was a people person who was a ray of sunshine and Maya was...not. She only enjoyed certain people. (Her family and Riley).

“Right, your _friend_ ,” he replied with a smirk, putting huge air quotes around the word friend. “You don't have to lie about her being our friend.”

“I'm not lying, Riley is my best friend - why would I lie about - “

“There's no shame in being gay, you don't need to hide it. I know coming out is scary. You won't believe the amount of times I've been called ‘Gay’ Babineaux but in the end, it's so worth it.”

“I'm not gay,” Maya said with a scoff. Looking down, she noticed her outfit and added, “I know I'm wearing a flannel but I'm straight.”

“Come on, you can tell me the truth.”

“I'm telling you the truth. I need to get out of here,” Maya said, getting up to find Riley.

* * *

When Riley’s eyes met Maya’s, she noticed something was off immediately so she power walked towards her best friend.

“We're leaving, Riles,” Maya said, grabbing her hand.

“What? Why?”

“We just are.”

“Okay.”

“Someone likes em bossy,” Lucas commented.

Before Riley and Maya could even get close to the door, Zay’s voice was heard.

“Hey everyone! I have an announcement! Tonight we have friends who are afraid to come out, afraid that we’ll reject them…”

“Boooooo!” the teenagers cried out.

“…But we want them to know that they are accepted and safe, right?”

“Woooooo!” the teenagers cried out.

“I think the only way to do that is to elect them as Abigail Adam’s very first homecoming queens.”

The cheering continued as Maya frantically looked for a way out (of this party, of this house, of this _situation_.) But she didn't get the chance because Zay grabbed her and Riley’s hands and dragged them to the front of the crowd. Both girls looked terrified, confused, and overwhelmed as everyone chanted for them.

“All hail the queens!” Zay shouted.


	3. whoa, i know

Sitting at the bay window, Maya couldn't stop fidgeting with her hands. She couldn't believe that Zay had done that after she specifically told him that she was straight. Not that there was anything _wrong_ with being gay, but she _wasn't_.

“Okay, so we're just going to tell them that we’re not gay and withdraw our nomination,” Maya said.

“Or we could just roll with it.”

“Roll with it? Riley, they think we're lesbians. It's ridiculous.”

“But we're popular now, Peaches. Before that party, the only people who knew our names were our teachers, Farkle, and Geralyn, the lunch lady. This could work a lot better than my communism plan.”

“But we're not gay.”

“Everyone has a lesbian phase in college. We're just moving ours up.”

“But you want to date Lucas, don't you? He thinks we're a couple.”

“Straight guys love lesbians and last night, I think we really connected. I think he was flirting with me.”

“Really?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?”

“I guess I just don't think that he would flirt with someone who's a lesbian and taken. Seems kind of pointless.”

“I'm just _that_ irresistible.”

“Okay, goofball, we gotta go to school.”

* * *

When Riley and Maya arrived at school (arms linked, as usual), they were met with applause and congratulations. They had gotten a lot of free food from people, commending the two girls for their bravery. The two girls had even been asked to do an interview with the school’s journalist, Isadora Smackle. Everyone was thrilled that Abigail Adams had their first out lesbian couple and that they were probably going to be homecoming royalty. Well everyone, except one person - Missy Bradford. She was supposed to be homecoming queen, she thought it was her rite of passage. So when she found out that Riley and Maya were elected as lesbian homecoming queens, she was furious. And furious was putting it lightly. Missy stormed into the school, heading straight towards Riley and Maya, looking like she was out for blood.

“Are you kidding me? _You_ two think you’re going to be homecoming queens? This is ridiculous!” she started yelling. “I know we live in New York City and we’re all liberal and accepting but this is _homecoming._ Marriage might be between whatever genders, but homecoming belongs to one king and one queen.”

Before Riley and Maya could say anything, Zay came to their defense. “Leave them alone Missy.”

And in her typical Missy Bradford fashion, she stormed off, going to find her boyfriend, Billy Ross to complain about how bizarre it was that two lesbians are going to be running for homecoming queens.

* * *

“Do you know how huge this is? It's amazing. The first gay homecoming candidates. I'm so proud,” Zay said with a big grin on his face.

“The brunette is really cute,” Lucas said, with a sheepish smile.

“Classic hetero, pining after the lesbian,” Zay said, rolling his eyes.

“I'm just saying she's cute, I'm not gonna date her or anything.”

“You're Lucas Friar, you could get literally any girl you wanted.”

“True.”

Zay thought he was saying true, meaning he would find another girl, but Lucas took it as that he could get  _any_ girl he wanted, including Riley Matthews.

* * *

“Riles, come to the bathroom with me,” Maya whispered, but loud enough so that Riley could hear her in the noisy cafeteria.

Riley simply nodded and put Maya’s hand in hers, while they got up to go to the bathroom.

“What's up, Peaches?”

“I don't know if I can go through with this whole ‘pretending to be a lesbian thing’ anymore,” the blonde admitted.

“But it's the best thing that's ever happened to us!” Riley protested.

“No, it's the best thing that's ever happened to you,” Maya argued. “You got your popularity, you got the boy, and I got a big old pile of stinking nothing. I just wish we could go back to the way it was, Riles. When it was just us.”

“Maya...I...I don't want to go back.”

“Then good luck finding another girlfriend by the homecoming assembly,” Maya snapped, as she left, slamming the girls’ bathroom door behind her.

Maybe it was because of the slam or maybe it was just because Riley was in shock, but she wasn't able to hear Missy Bradford’s gasp.

* * *

Going back out to lunch, without each other was weird for the both of them. Even though it had only been minutes, they both felt out of place when they weren't walking side by side. Maya tried to rid the terrible feeling of not having Riley’s hand in hers and tried to rationalize her decision while also trying to look like she was fine. But she wasn't. She was hurt. Hurt that Riley would choose being popular and Lucas Friar over what Maya wanted. Hurt that Riley didn't care that she wasn't getting anything out of this. Hurt that she wasn't enough for Riley. Hurt that Riley wanted popularity more than she wanted friendship. Meanwhile, Riley was trying to rid herself of the same feeling. Trying to look like she was fine. Something she had become quite good at over the years. But she was still hurt that Maya didn't want to go along with her plan. Hurt that Maya walked out on her. Hurt that Maya didn't see how much this meant to her. Walking to the cafeteria, with nowhere to go because sitting Maya was obviously not an option anymore, was a terrible feeling. She then felt a light tap on her shoulder from none other than Lucas Friar.

“Where's your girlfriend?”

“Oh, uh, we broke up,” Riley said quickly.

“I'm sorry to hear that, do you wanna talk about it?” Lucas asked, leading Riley down to a table for them to sit at alone.

“Not really.”

“Okay.”

After some silence and picking at her food, Riley breaks the silence saying, “We’re just different people. We always have been. I think we've just been holding on to a relationship that we've both outgrown. I mean, it wasn't all bad. She's the only person I can watch Red Planet Diaries with because she only talks during the commercials and sings along perfectly to the theme song with me. She gets along great with my brother. And when my hamster died, she was the only one who could make me smile.”

Riley couldn't help but smile when she was talking about all the good times she had had with Maya. She's realizing that there's nothing more important than her friendship with Maya.

“Excuse me, I have to go.”

* * *

Riley runs around the school looking for Maya until she winds up on the roof, where she's having trouble breathing because of her acrophobia.

“Don't jump?” Riley offers, lightly.

“Don't flatter yourself,” Maya grumbled. “How did you find me?”

“I knew you would find the tallest place in this school to get away from me because I'm scared of heights but I'm facing my fear,” Riley said with a whimper of terror. “I'm facing my fear to apologize. You were right. I was being selfish with this whole gay thing. I dragged you into against your will.”

“Don't stop when it's getting good.”

“Maya, I'm not strong like you. I care what people think. And you have to stand out to fit in. And I'm so ordinary.”

“You may be a lot of things but ordinary isn't one of them.”

“Yeah right, being gay is the only reason people notice me. But if the price of popularity is losing my best friend, then I don't want it. It's not worth it. You're the Fey to Poehler, the Rihanna to my Katy Perry, the Lucy to my Ethel.”

Rolling her eyes and turning to face Riley, Maya said, “We both know I'm the Ethel. And if you want to stand, I'm gonna help make that happen.”

“Maya...are you saying what I think you're saying?” Riley asked, with a shit eating grin appearing on her face.

“Let's be lesbians.”

Riley let out her signature “YAAAAAY!!!” and hugged Maya.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're the best friend ever!”

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the gymnasium, Abigail Adams was having their homecoming assembly. The only other couple up against Riley and Maya were Billy Ross and Missy Bradford. Given by the light applause for Billy and Missy, it was obvious who was going to win. But that didn't stop Missy from her speech.

“I believe in tradition. I think tradition is one of the most important things we have today. Society is a patchwork of traditions that have been handed down from those before us and -”

“Like slavery!” Zay shouted from the crowd, drawing a few laughs and snaps.

“Not like slavery!” Missy snapped. “Like a gentleman holding the door open for a lady or not talking with your mouth full. So just remember, a vote for me and Billy is a vote for tradition.”

“Yeah!” Billy yelled, a little unconvincingly.

The principal clapped her hands slowly while taking the microphone to announce the next couple.

“Thank you Missy for that...interesting speech. And now we're going to hear from Abigail Adams first same-gender candidates for homecoming, Riley Matthews and Maya Hart!”

Cheers erupted for the audience of students. After some prompting, Missy and Billy unenthusiastically clapped along with them.

“Woooooo!” Zay practically screamed.

Riley and Maya walked in the gym from the double doors, hands clasped together, raising their hands together. Riley and Maya barely got to the center of the gym before Missy was grabbing the microphone.

“Missy, give me back the microphone,” the principal said.

“Not until you all hear this!” she yelled. “There's something you all should know. They're not really lesbians!”

Riley and Maya looked at each other with a face of sheer panic.

“Missy, please give me the microphone.”

“They're just pretending! So that you'll all like them! I heard them talking about it in the bathroom! They're mocking the gay rights movement!”

“Riley, Maya, is this true?” the principal asked.

“I...I can explain,” Riley said in a small voice.

But Maya, being the brace person that she is, yelled, “If we’re faking it, would I do this?”

She then grabbed Riley by the jaw and kissed her for what felt like forever. The cheers once again erupted but all Maya could feel were the butterflies in her stomach and ringing in her ears. Who knew Riley's lips would feel so soft and like they were meant to be on her lips?

As they pulled away, Riley uttered a “woah.”

“I know,” Maya said, her heart still pounding one hundred beats per minute.

“Way to sell it.”

 _Shit_ , Maya thought. _Shit shit shit shit shit._


	4. see you in spanish class

Maya was kissing Riley, and her lips were just as soft as they were in that gymnasium. When she was kissing Riley, it was like everything in her life finally made sense. When Riley had her hands in her blonde hair, and she was melting deep into her eyes, she couldn’t help but feel like she could do this for the rest of her life. Maya smiled and looked at Riley like she hung the stars in the sky. She couldn’t stop looking at Riley. That was until she woke up. 5:30 AM. Maya groaned. _Of course it was a dream._ She tried to rid her head of all the thoughts she had been having since the kiss yesterday. But it was all she could think about. She thought about kissing Riley, she thought about asking Riley to prom, she thought about holding Riley’s hand, she thought about marrying Riley. Riley was the only thing that was on her mind. But she told herself she had to stop thinking like that. It wasn't like Riley was actually a lesbian. And neither was Maya. She was straight. _I'm straight, I'm straight, I'm straight_. Her fantasies weren't buying it though because Riley’s kiss still occupied her brain. How was she going to face Riley in...6:00 AM. One hour? Shaking her head, Maya got up, got dressed, got her backpack ready, and headed over to the Matthews’ place.

She pressed their apartment number and said, “Hey losers, it’s Maya.”

After being buzzed in, she made a b line for Riley’s room, wasting no time. She thought she could handle seeing Riley, but looking at her sleepy face made her feel those butterflies in her stomach again.

“Morning Peaches!” Riley chirped, tying her shoelaces. “How's my _girlfriend_?”

Maya faked a smile but couldn't help but feel disappointed that Riley wasn't being serious.

“I'm good, but um, Riles...what are those binders for?”

“Oh, they have all the information we need to be the perfect lesbians. And there are a bunch of plans in there too. And each plan has a little sub plan. And each sub plan has a little baby plan.”

“You really did your research, huh?” Maya commented, as she thumbed through the binder. “What's ‘bumper to bumper’?”

“That's Plan 3, subplan A, and the baby plan’s name is Jexica,” Riley replied. “It's on the sixtieth page.”

_Sixtieth page? How many pages did Riley put in this binder? How much research did she do?_

Maya rolled her eyes a bit, put down the enormous binder and posed a serious question Riley, “Don't you think this whole pretending to be girlfriends thing is a bit... _weird_?”

“Geez, was I that bad of a kisser, Peaches?”

You were a wonderful kisser, it was the best (and only) kiss of my life, I wanted that kiss to last forever, I can't stop thinking about that stupid kiss, I can't stop thinking about your lips, I can't stop thinking about how much I want to kiss you again. Those were some of the things that Maya could have said. But of course, she didn't. Because she had to remind herself that this was all pretend. Make believe. For the popularity. For the free food she got when they first came out as a couple.

“It was like kissing my sister or whatever,” Maya managed to say, hating that she had to lie to Riley. Hating even more than she knew it would be worse if she told the truth.

“Ouch,” Riley said, putting her hand over her heart, feigning hurt.

“Please, it's not like you enjoyed it,” Maya scoffed.

“I thought you were great.”

There it was again, the butterflies. Maya's heart starting racing. Not that she showed it. She gave a little smile and tried to not think too hard about Riley calling her a great kisser. Does that mean she likes me? Does that mean she likes kissing girls?

“You did?”

Riley nods, with a smile on her face. They're interrupted by Cory and Topanga coming into Riley’s room. Without knocking of course because they never knock.

“Morning my two homecoming queens!” Topanga sang. “I'm so proud of the two of you for smashing the heteronormativity that you're constantly surrounded with.”

“What she said,” Cory said, with a big smile.

“You told your mom?” Maya whispered to Riley. She knew Cory knew because he was at the school but she wasn't sure how she felt about Topanga knowing. Especially because Topanga and her mom worked together and were quite close.

“Dad told her,” Riley admitted. “But she's really happy, look! She thinks we're really smashing the heteronormawhatever.”

“Maya, I want you to know that this is a safe space and you can say whatever you want,” Topanga said, walking over the obviously flustered blonde. “How did your mom take the news?”

“I haven't told her yet,” and she wasn't sure she ever wanted to. Sure, her mom was sort of progressive but when it came to her own daughter, Katy Hart was still traditional. She thought Maya would marry a rich businessman who would pay for all of her art supplies and took care of her and their three kids. And unlike Topanga, her mother was not as socially aware. Maya didn't learn about what gay meant from her mom. She learned about it from living in New York City and seeing two guys holding hands and kissing. And it was Topanga who explained to her what that meant. When she told her mom about it, her mom simply smiled (a bit uncomfortably) and muttered the words that's nice. So telling her mother that she was gay and dating Riley was not on the top of her todo list. (Even if the dating Riley part was fake. She wasn't sure about the first one).

“Take your time and you can always come to us if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Matthews, I really appreciate it.”

Topanga gave Maya a squeeze of the shoulder and then along with Cory, exited Riley’s room.

“Your mom knows, what if she tells my mom?”

“She wouldn't do that. Besides, it's all fake anyways, right?”

Maya bit her lip and uttered, “Right.”

* * *

Walking to school with Maya as her girlfriend felt strangely normal to Riley, besides all the stares and congratulations. For Maya, it didn't feel normal at all. They had held hands countless times but now every seconds she was holding Riley’s hands, her fingertips were on fire. Her skin was tingling and the damn butterflies invaded her stomach again. She had to keep on reminding herself that this was all fake. To Riley. It was all fake to Riley, but the feelings she was having were very real. When Maya had heard about people being in love, she usually scoffed and thought that would never happen for her. Her mother didn’t have the best track record with men so she figured she wouldn’t either. And she was right. Maybe she wouldn’t have the best track record with _men_ . But when she was holding Riley’s hand, walking down the hallway, she finally understood about the thing she used to scoff at. She now understood why people wanted to spend the rest of their lives with another person. To her, Riley was that person. She just wished she was the same to Riley. Maya felt every cliche in the book: weak in the knees, heart skipping a beat, only seeing Riley in a room full of other students, everything Riley doing being like magic, feeling like she was floating, and not being able to take her eyes off of Riley. If someone did a scan of her brain, about 85% of her brain would be Riley. The other 15% was freaking out because Riley was her best friend. Her _female_ best friend. Her best friend that was a girl. Her best friend that she was 99.9% sure _didn’t_ feel the same way. Her best friend that she couldn’t live without. Her best friend that knew everything there was to know about her, except this.

“Peaches, I gotta go to geometry, I’ll see you in Spanish class,” Riley said, leaving a quick kiss on Maya’s cheek before running off.

“See you in Spanish class,” Maya echoed, biting her lip, and trying to compose herself. But it was helpless, she was too far gone.


	5. just not in the way that i want you to

Sometime in between geometry and Spanish, Riley managed to cross paths with Lucas. 

“Hi,” she greeted him, giving her best smile. 

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

There was some silence until Lucas finally decided to break it by saying, “So uh, you and Maya?” 

“Yeah, we realized that we really needed each other,” she replied, nodding. It wasn't a  _ total _ lie. 

“Well, all hail the queen, I am your humble servant,” Lucas teased, with a bow. 

Riley giggled, trying not to blush. 

“I'm glad you and Maya are back together. We should probably stop running into each other like this. I don't wanna be the guy that breaks up the cutest couple in all of school.” 

“Maya and I have an open relationship,” Riley blurted out. “She'd be totally fine with this.” 

“Sweet.”

“So tell me about yourself,” Riley prompted, wanting to know more about the boy. 

“Well I'm from Texas, so is Zay. We've known each other practically all of our lives. I really like playing sports.” 

“What kind of sports do you play?” 

“Baseball, track, basketball, I'm trying out football.”

“I don't know that much about sports,” Riley said, her hand running through her hair. “I mean I'm born and raised in New York City so my favorite team is obviously the Knicks.” 

Lucas raised his eyebrows, intrigued and impressed by Riley’s knowledge of sports. (Even though he was a diehard Longhorns fan.) 

“And I know it’s not our best year but we still have Melo,” Riley continued, her voice growing louder as she got more passionate. “And we have Phil Jackson, that’s what counts. We have a terrible record, we're the worst in the NBA! I am at Madison Square Garden, I see all these fake fans just jumping onto bandwagons like the heat or something like that. And you know what? That is not what a true fan is! If you're gonna be in the garden, you better represent the Knicks!”

Lucas laughed and Riley swore his laughter was one of the most precious things that she had ever heard. 

“I mean, I don’t know that much about it, obviously,” she said quietly.

“I really like you, Riley.”

* * *

Riley went through the rest of the day floating on air. Lucas Friar liked her. Lucas Friar  _ really  _ liked her. Lucas Friar,  _ the  _ Lucas Friar. She couldn’t believe it. She was popular. She was going to be homecoming queen. She got to rub this all in Missy Bradford’s face. And the most popular boy in school really liked her. All day, she was itching to tell Maya all about it, but since they were in school, she knew she would have to wait to talk about Lucas. As soon as they left for school, she practically ran, literally dragging a breathless Maya along with her, to her home.

“Bay window, bay window right now!” Riley exclaimed when they finally got up to her apartment.

“Okay, jeez,” Maya said, out of breath.   
Riley pulled Maya to their sacred spot and sat down, patting the seat next to her for Maya to sit at. Maya was confused as to what would be so urgent that Riley would want to talk about.  _ Did she want to end the fake relationship?  _ Maya thought to herself as she sat next to Riley. Part of Maya would be relieved if that happened but the other part of her kind of wanted to keep this up because she liked it when Riley kissed her on the cheek, liked it when people thought they were dating.    


“So what’s up, honey?”   


“I think Lucas Friar is going to like me,” Riley said, squealing with excitement.    


“Of course he’ll like you, you’re Riley, there’s no one more likeable than you,” Maya replied.   


“No not like me like that, like,  _ like like  _ me,” Riley said, practically swooning. “He said he really liked me.”    


“He did?” Maya’s voice was normal but inside she wasn’t quite sure what she was feeling. But it wasn’t good. She didn’t like the fact that Lucas liked her and probably was one of those boys who wanted to ‘turn a lesbian straight.’   


“Can you believe it? Lucas Friar,  _ the  _ Lucas Friar, likes me, the most popular boy in school.”   


“Well, let’s not hope that no one finds out or thinks that you’re cheating on me,” Maya said, looking down at the floor, wanting to focus on anything  _ other  _ than Riley’s face, her perfect face. “They’d think you were a terrible person.”   


“Are you upset?” Riley said, lifting Maya’s head like she had done so many times before. Only this time, Maya was scared -  _ terrified  _ even - to look at Riley.   


“No, I’m just...anxious about telling my mom,” Maya half-lied. She  _ was  _ anxious about telling her mom but that was  _ not  _ why she was upset.   


“What are you talking about? Your mom loves you,” Riley reassured Maya.   


Maya  _ knew  _ that her mom loved her, she just wasn’t comfortable telling her that was gay. When she wasn’t. Well, she wasn’t sure  _ what  _ she was but she knew she didn’t want to be gay. Again, not that she thought there was anything wrong with being gay, she was just terrified of her mother’s reaction. Her mother was traditional, didn’t even tell her that she was the one who got left until Shawn made her because ‘a girl should think well of her father.’ What kind of thinking is that? If a father left a girl, Maya didn’t want to think well of him. And she tried to forgive him but she couldn’t, she was still working on forgiving herself.    


“I don’t know, Riles, she’s not as progressive and freethinking as your mother, Topanga may not be a hippie anymore, but that part of her certainly still exists.”   


“Okay, if you don’t want to tell your mother, I won’t force you to,” Riley said, stroking Maya’s hair. “I want you to do it when you’re ready, I want you to go at your own pace.”   


“Thank you,” Maya said, in a slight whisper. “I love you.”   


“I love you too, Peaches.”   


“I know.”   


_ Just not in the way that I want you to. _


	6. homecoming out

The next day at school, Maya was freaking out a bit. The dance was tomorrow and she still hadn't told her mother that she was gay. Or whatever she was. She still hadn't told her mother that her date to homecoming was  _ Riley.  _ And she wasn't sure that she wanted to so at lunch she made a b line towards Zay Babineaux. 

“Zay, I need you to be my date to homecoming,” Maya said, in a bit of a panicked voice. 

“What? Riley is your date to homecoming, why would you want me to be your date?” Zay asked. 

“Because my mom doesn't know,” she whisper yelled. “And I just need you to pretend and like take a few pictures or whatever.” 

“No no no no, Maya, I am  _ not  _ going to be your beard. If there's anything I've learned is that hiding who you are doesn't help. After I came out, I promised I would never hide who I was again.” 

“If you remember correctly, this thing is kind of all your fault,” Maya said with a grumble. “If you hadn't outed us, I wouldn't be in this situation in the first place.” 

“You make a good point but - “

“Please?” Maya was practically begging by now. “My mom is a southern wannabe actress who is like the most traditional person I've ever met in New York.”

“Fine,” he relayed. “But only because I kind of want to meet her and I feel bad. What time?”

“7:00,” Maya replied. “And you know, dress more...believably straight.”

* * *

Lucas and Riley sat in the dugout of the school’s baseball field for the third time that day. Most people would think they would do something scandalous like make out but instead they just talked. Talked and talked and talked. Riley discovered that she loved talking to Lucas. He was one of her favorite people to talk to. Besides Maya, of course. They talked about his sports, their favorite breakfast foods, and candy, they talked about everything for what felt like hours.

“So tell me more about growing up in Texas,” Riley prompted him. 

“Well I guess the thing I miss most about Texas is the pets I used to have.”

“I had a hamster.”

“I had  _ twenty four  _ horses.” 

“Wow...you win. Tell me about them,” she said with a small smile. 

“Well one day, one of the horses, Sofia, was foaling.”

“Foaling means she was giving birth, right?” Riley had watched too many shows about horses on Discovery Channel, hoping to find out why the unicorn went extinct. 

“Not too bad for a city girl,” Lucas teased, with a light laugh. “And when she was foaling, there was no one else there. So I called the doctor and he talked me through it.”

“And?” 

“And did you know that a baby horse stands in the first hour after it's born? It was the coolest thing I've ever seen and I got to be a part of it. Riley?” 

“Lucas?” 

“I've never told anyone this but I think someday I'd like to be a veterinarian. I know a lot of people expect me to be like some super athlete or something but I dunno. I love playing sports but there's nothing that can compare to the experience that I had with Sofia.”

Riley simply nodded, speechless, and could feel herself falling for Lucas. She wanted to listen to every story, share every moment, and talk with him all the time. She wasn't sure if it was love (she was only fifteen, after all), but it was definitely a very  _ very  _ heavy like. And she was sure it was going to blossom into love. 

* * *

 

It was seven o’clock on Friday night and Maya was pacing in the hallway of her and her mother’s small apartment. She was wearing a baby blue dress that Riley and her had picked out at Demolition. ( _ Maya  _ in a  _ dress _ , her mother never thought she would see the day.) Her mother kept squealing and fawning over her dress and her hair. And the fact that she had a date,  _ with a boy _ . 

“Oh, baby girl, you look  _ so  _ beautiful!” Katy said, putting her hand over her heart. “Now when that boy Zay comes, I want pictures. My momma did it to me on my homecoming night so it's like a tradition!” 

Maya didn't argue and she really didn't have that much time to because she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, she saw Zay in a cowboy hat, a plaid flannel, black jeans with the most stereotypically southern belt that Maya had ever seen, and cowboy boots. 

“Well howdy,” Zay greeted Maya’s mother, in his native accent. 

“I asked for butch, not Matthew McConaughey from Magic Mike,” Maya mumbled to Zay, soft enough so her mother couldn't hear. 

“This is as butch as I get,” he mumbled back. “Now, where's this mother you promised?”

As if on cue, Katy came out of her bedroom and into the hallway, with her tiny camera in hand. 

“Is this him? Oh my god, he is  _ too  _ cute, Maya!” Katy squealed. “You must be Zay. I'm Maya's mother, Katy Hart.” 

“You're lying,” Zay replied. 

“Excuse me?” both Maya and Katy asked simultaneously. 

“Y'all must be sisters.” 

“Oh, stop it, we get that all the time!” (They don't.)

Maya subtlety rolled her eyes. She loved her mother (more than anything else in the world if you don't count Riley) but sometimes she was a little much. And right now was definitely one of those times. 

“Okay, now pose together for a picture, you two!” 

Maya and Zay awkwardly stood next to each other, trying to look as comfortable as possible when they both obviously weren't. After Katy had taken the sixteenth photo, Maya finally managed to get her and Zay outside of the small apartment and to Zay’s pickup truck. 

“Your mother is really something else,” Zay commented as they both got into his truck. 

“Tell me something I don't know,” Maya replied with a chuckle. “Something else is a bit of an understatement.” 

* * *

When Riley arrived at the dance, there was thunderous applause, people were chanting her and Maya’s name, and it felt amazing. She was finally special. People finally recognized her. It was like she was invisible up until a few days ago and now she was truly being seen. It was a great feeling that Riley thought she’d never get tired of. Recognition, approval, affection, attention, validation - those were all things that Riley desperately craved and she was now getting. It was euphoria. Walking up to the principal, she grabbed her tiara and held on to the crown for Maya. When she saw Maya, in a  _ dress,  _ her eyes lit up and she raced to the other girl.

“Here’s your crown, Peaches,” she gushed, placing it on Maya’s head.

“Thank you, princess,” Maya teased.

The dance was a lot better than Maya thought it would be. She got to hold Riley’s hand, she got to slow dance with Riley, and Missy left them alone. Riley looked over her shoulder and saw Lucas giving her the most charming smile she had ever seen anyone give and felt her heart beat a little faster. 

Leaning in close, she whispered into Maya’s ear, “I think something might happen between me and Lucas.”

“Oh.”

When the song ended, Riley dragged Maya to the corner of the dance floor so that they had more privacy and asked, “What does  _ oh  _ mean?”   
“It just means that I thought you would want it to be special,” she shrugged.  _ With someone who loves you, someone who knows you, someone who will treat you like the princess you are, someone who sees you as more than just a lesbian, someone like me.  _

“Doesn’t get more special than Lucas Friar, does it? I mean, he’s the most popular boy in school, he’s cute, he’s charming, he’s nice, he’s a good student, good athlete, southern charm.”

“I get it, Riles, he’s perfect,” Maya grumbled. 

“He is,” she said, swooning. She stopped swooning however when she saw someone who looked strangely like Maya’s mother. But that didn’t make sense, why would Katy come to the dance? “Maya, Peaches, I think I just saw your mom.”

The first thing Maya wanted to do was run but there was nowhere to run to. And then she took off her crown and hid it behind her back, so that her mother - who was walking towards them - wouldn’t see.

“Maya, can I talk to you for a second?” Without even waiting for a response, Katy pulled Maya aside and whispered, “I knew there were lesbian homecoming queens but I didn’t know Riley was one of them. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think you’d approve,” Maya admitted, which was true. 

“Oh, of course I approve, it’s probably just a phase she’s going through. You know, kids these days, trying to be different with their sexuality. Plus it’s not like she’s  _ my  _ daughter.”

For some reason, that struck a nerve with Maya.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, she’s not my daughter so I don’t have to worry about  _ you  _ being a lesbian. Unless Riley converts you!” Katy laughed. Maya didn’t. “Now where’s her girlfriend?”

“Right here, mom,” Maya said firmly, putting her crown back on her head where it belonged.


	7. secret boyfriend material

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that it's probably unrealistic that Charlie would have feelings for Maya but since this is an AU and Charlie is very much a sweet guy like Oliver is, I said why not. Also sorry for taking so long to update this, but I'm going to try to be better. Most of the next two chapters are already written so you look forward to those soon :)

Maya was proud of herself for “fake coming out” to her mom. (It was a fake coming out, that's what she kept telling herself.) Riley was proud of her too. She kept whispering it into her ear before nuzzling her head in her neck while they slow danced. And when Riley said that she was proud of Maya, that was all that mattered to her. Making Riley proud, made Maya proud. And even though she was proud of herself, after the dance when she went home to her apartment, she cried. She cried because even though her being gay and coming out wasn't real (it wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real), her mom thought it was. And no matter how many fights and snide comments she made, her mother’s opinion still meant a lot to her. She cried because Riley would never love her the way she loved Riley. She cried because she didn't know what all of this meant. She cried because she fucking  _ hated  _ Lucas Friar. He had to come with his stupid Texan charm and his stories about horses that Riley  _ would not  _ shut up about. And it left a fire burning in Maya’s stomach. But she wasn't jealous, she couldn't be  _ jealous.  _ Maybe she was just...protective. She didn't want Riley to get hurt. That's what it was. At least that's what she told herself, over and over again, like a mantra, until she believed it. She hated Lucas Friar because she knew that he saw Riley as a challenge and a prize instead of a person. She hated Lucas Friar because he snuck looks at Riley when he thought no one was looking. She hated Lucas Friar because she knew his reputation. She hated Lucas Friar because she shouldn't be up at 3 am, crying, because she hated him so goddamn much. But she was. And the fact of the matter is, is that it boiled down to one reason: she hated Lucas Friar because he was stealing her girl away. And the saddest part to Maya was that Riley wasn't even her girl, not in the way that she was Riley’s. 

* * *

The next day, Riley swore that she must have imagined everything that happened with Lucas in her head because  _ all  _ he was doing was flirting with some Sarah girl. Riley didn't know Sarah. She didn't really know anyone besides Maya, Farkle, and Lucas (or at least she  _ thought  _ she knew him). But Lucas was smiling at Sarah the way that he smiled at her that day in the dugout. And Riley did not like this feeling. She didn't like this feeling one bit. Nevertheless, even though Lucas wasn't smiling at her, he was still smiling, and Riley still felt the butterflies in her stomach. So when Lucas  _ finally  _ got away from Sarah (stupid Sarah, Riley thought to herself), Riley walked over to him, trying her best to hide her jealousy.

“Hey, who was that you were talking to? I've never seen her around before,” Riley knew that sounded like a dig at Sarah - maybe it was a little bit - but she wasn't lying; she didn't know who Sarah was. 

“That's Sarah Carpenter,” Lucas said, with a sparkle in his eyes that made Riley want to throw up. “She's really great. She's so passionate. So beautiful. Don't you think so?”

_ Right, I'm supposed to be a lesbian,  _ Riley reminded herself. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's got...great...great hair,” Riley half heartedly offered. 

_ Great hair? What were you thinking? He's going to see right through your act.  _

“Yeah, she does. But what I really love about her is her personality, it's so raw and passionate.”

And that's when Riley really thought when she was going to throw up. When she heard Lucas Friar say the word  _ love _ . Lucas Friar, who had never had a girlfriend for more than a month. Riley wasn't sure if she wanted to throw up, cry, or both. It definitely felt like both. But she had to keep up the act. She had to act like this didn't faze her. And she was getting pretty good at that. But she  _ hated  _ Sarah. She didn’t really have a reason to hate Sarah and that made her hate Sarah even more. 

“I...uh, gotta go, talk to my girlfriend,” Riley said, swallowing her feelings and nausea. 

* * *

Riley and Maya met in the halls, at 10:15, like they always did during third period. They both asked their teachers for a bathroom break, (using the emergency card, and once a month, using the lady card), so that they could see each other. It was torture for them not to be in the same class. It was so much easier when they practically had the same exact schedule in middle school and had all the same teachers in elementary school. They ran towards the middle of the hall to embrace each other, like the hadn’t seen each other in forever. And to them it felt like forever. If forever lasted one hour. They whispered ‘I missed you’s into the other’s hairs and stayed like that for a while before pulling away.

“We should talk about this whole lesbian thing, Peaches,” Riley said in a mumble. 

“You’re not backing out now, are you?” Maya didn’t want Riley to back out, as selfish as it seemed. She liked keeping up the charade. “You know, if we break up  _ or  _ tell them the truth, they’re going to overcome their opposition to the death penalty.”

“I know, I know, I know,” Riley replied, with a sigh. “I just worry that you’re not getting anything out of this.”

“It’s fine,” Maya lied. Well she  _ was  _ getting something out of it. “Maybe I should get a secret boyfriend like you. You seem to like it.”

“Yeah, you should!” Riley agreed. “What about Brandon? You two are both rebels.”

“That’s true, I’ll talk to him at lunch.”

“Okay, we gotta get back to class now.”

Maya groaned. She hated math. They were learning about fractions for the billionth time and she didn’t care for them. Why would she ever need parts of numbers? Who needs parts of numbers? What kind of bullshit is that? 

* * *

At lunch, she found Brandon, and she tried talking to him. But the only thing he could manage to talk about was himself. Maya tried not to roll her eyes but she was so bored of hearing him drone on and on about how badass that thing he did was. She excused herself from the table and then bumped into a boy she had never seen before.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I...uh...are those tacos you’re eating?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I go to Paco’s Tacos and keep them in my fridge, then take them to school for lunch. Would you like one?”

And that’s when Maya knew. He was  _ definitely  _ secret boyfriend material. 

“Yes! I love Paco’s Tacos. I’m Maya,” she said, thinking that introducing herself to the boy who just offered her a  _ free taco  _ was the right thing to do.

“I know,” he said, with a shy smile. “I’m Charlie. Do you want to get out of here? Away from all the chaos and our annoying peers?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“I know just the place.”

* * *

Charlie had taken Maya to what he called ‘his secret place’, it was the planetarium that practically no one ever used. Except for Charlie. They laid down next to each other on the floor, admiring the images that were projected on the screen. Maya had always been fascinated by the night sky. As an artist, Starry Night by Van Gogh had always been an inspiration to her and seeing the constellations up close made her want to paint forever. She turns her attention away from the stars and to her phone so she can text Riley.

**Peaches!!!:** Riles, I think I found a secret boyfriend. 

**Riles:** That’s great Peaches!!!! Who is he???

**Peaches!!!:** His name is Charlie and so far I don't want to poke his eyes out with scissors. 

**Riles:** That's huge for you!! Sometimes you even want to poke Farkle’s eyes out. 

**Peaches!!!:** I know. Gotta go. Spending lunch with him. Love you. 

Maya put her phone away so she could spend some time getting to know Charlie. 

“How did you get the keys to the planetarium?” Maya asked, turning her head towards Charlie.

“Well, all I had to do was get the serial numbers to all the locks, call the manufacturer, pretend to be the janitor, and they mailed me every key to the school. Does that make me sound like a creepy creep creep?”

“Not at all,” Maya smirked. “In fact, I think it’s impressive.” 

Maya actually  _ was  _ impressed, for someone so shy and unassuming, Charlie was kind of a rebel in his right. Which she totally respected and admired. 

“I also have other screens set up,” Charlie admitted, pressing a button to show a live stream of the students of Abigail Adams. 

“Why do you have cameras on all of the students?”  _ That  _ part might have been a little creepy to Maya.

“Oh, I just did a little wiring from the security footage in the security room, so  _ I  _ technically don’t have them,” he explained.  _ Okay, that’s a little better.  _ “But I do it so I can study the students.”

“Study them?”

“Yeah, I don’t understand the majority of them, so I look at them in their natural habitat to see if I can. And I try to understand them, because I’m supposed to be one.” 

Charlie laughed nervously. 

“Yeah, I’m weird, I shouldn’t have shown you that, I shouldn’t have brought you here, I’m sorry,” he rambled.

“No, no, no, I can relate, I have a hard time understanding them too,” Maya admitted. 

“Yeah, they’re very weird because everyone wants to be different so they stand out just to fit in and it all just seems so...paradoxical.” 

Maya nodded, and at the same time they said, “I can’t wait for college.”

They both laughed and Maya wasn’t sure what she felt. She liked Charlie but it wasn’t the same way she liked Riley. But she told herself she could  _ never  _ like someone the way she liked Riley because...it was  _ Riley.  _ So she wasn’t exactly sure what she was feeling. It was nice though. It was comfortable.

“I gotta admit something to you, Maya,” Charlie said, with that same shy smile he wore when he told her he already knew who she was. “I’ve noticed you before, you know, before all the homecoming and lesbian stuff.”

“Really?” Maya was so sure no one had ever noticed her before, she had made herself so small sometimes because she wanted to disappear.

“Yeah, it’s rare you find a girl who’s so pretty and doesn’t even know it.”

Maya's eyes widened. She suddenly wasn't so sure about this secret boyfriend thing anymore. Because even though she wasn't  _ really  _ dating Riley (and she didn't really love her like a girlfriend, she didn't, she didn't, she didn't, she didn't), this whole thing felt like cheating. 

“I, uh…” Maya was at a loss for words, which rarely happens, she usually has some witty comeback. 

“Just my luck,” Charlie let out a sad chuckle. “I finally meet a girl I like in this school and she's a lesbian.” 

“Look, Riley and I are…”

She was going to use the ‘open relationship’ line that Riley had used on Lucas but she had trouble getting it out. 

“Um...Riley’s…”

“Hugging Lucas Friar?” Charlie pointed to the screen above them, where the camera showed the dugout and the all too familiar burning in Maya’s stomach. 

“I gotta go.” 


	8. gay scout's honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a pretty long chapter (about 4k words) to make up for how inconsistent i've been and how short the last chapter was!! hope you enjoy :)

Maya knew she had no real right to be angry at Riley. But she was. Because she saw the way that Riley laughed too hard at his jokes that weren't funny and acted interested in his stories that were just plain boring and it made her sick. Because Riley was changing herself for  _ some  _ heehaw dumbass Huckleberry. She always thought that Riley would have been better than that, that Riley would be herself, and not change for anyone or anything. But she was wrong, and she saw the evidence of that when she saw Riley dumb herself down. 

When the two met after lunch, Maya couldn't muster up a smile like she usually had on her face. Riley poked her stomach, and Maya flinched at what was normal contact for them. But it didn't feel normal that day to Maya. Nothing felt normal to Maya. 

“What's wrong, Peaches?” Riley pouted. 

“Nothing, I'm fine,” she lied through her teeth and smiled. “Just tired.” 

She couldn't exactly talk to Riley about Lucas in the middle of the day at school. After all, the entire school (sans Maya and Riley) thought that they were gay and dating. (And they weren't, they weren't, they weren't.) 

Riley didn't believe Maya but she also knew better than to push her before she was ready to talk. But if she didn't bring it up by the end of school, Riley was going to pry it out of her and fix it the best she could. Because she needed to fix everything. And she needed to please everyone. And she needed to be the perfect friend, the perfect fake girlfriend, the perfect everything. 

“Okay,” she nods and squeezes Maya’s hand, in hopes that Maya realizes that there's no one on earth that Riley loves more. 

* * *

It's the end of the school day and Maya  _ still  _ hadn't told Riley what's going on with her. And Riley knows something's off because Maya’s eyes didn't light up when they were in art class. They just glossed over the easel and she shrugged when Mr. Jackson asked where her usual passion is. ‘Not feeling very inspired today, sir. Maybe tomorrow will be better.’ They were getting their books out of their lockers and into their bags when Riley finally cracked.

“What's going on with you?” She wanted to get to the bottom of this. “You're acting all...weird.”

Since it was the end of the school day, and they were staying late so Mr. Matthews could drive them home, Maya figured she could talk to Riley about Lucas. 

“ _ I’m  _ acting weird?!” she snapped. And she knew she shouldn't take it out on Riley. But who was she supposed to take it out on? “You're acting weird!”

“What are you talking about?” 

“I am so sick of the way you’ve been acting lately! You're changing yourself! And for what…so some boy you hardly know will fall in love with you. You barely know Lucas. Name one fact about him other than that he wants to be a fucking veterinarian and that he’s the hottest guy in school.”

“I know that he's best friends with Zay, he calls his grandma on her birthday, he has a good heart, and that he has integrity,” Riley countered. 

“Fantastic, maybe he can lend you some,” Maya slammed her locker. 

“So what if I like the hottest guy in school?! I'm a teenage girl!” 

“Tell your father I'm walking home.” 

Maya picked up her bags and walked away from Riley and turned the corner in the halls. Her mind was racing, her heart was beating, she felt angrier than she had felt in a long time. She felt angrier than she had felt when her mother didn’t get her anything on her twelfth birthday. She felt angrier than she had felt when Mr. Matthews had given her an F on her paper. She felt angrier than she had felt when she saw Lucas and Riley hugging. This was an entirely knew anger she felt and she  _ hated  _ that it was felt against Riley. 

“Do you want me to give you some Paco’s Tacos tomorrow as well?” Maya was startled when she saw Charlie Gardner, the boy who seemed like he was made to be her secret boyfriend, in the halls. It must have been fate that he was staying late as well. And instead of answering him like a normal person, she grabbed his head and kissed him. Hard. Her hands were in his hair and once again she wasn’t sure what she felt. She knew she was only doing this because she was angry and it felt kind of good to get revenge on Riley. (Was it really revenge on Riley if Riley didn’t care?) But Maya wasn’t thinking straight and she couldn’t figure out which way she meant that phrase anymore. Charlie was caught off guard but he kissed her back, dropping his bag in surprise. But Maya pulled away after about ten seconds of kissing him and realized that she shouldn’t be kissing him if it felt like this. If it felt like cheating on Riley. (Even though it wasn’t. And it hurt like hell that it wasn’t.) Regret filled her eyes and hurt filled Charlie’s when he saw hers. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” 

Maya walked home, knowing she would probably never be able to eat another taco from Paco’s Tacos without tasting Charlie’s lips and that made her sick to her stomach. Because she realized that she felt nothing. 

* * *

That afternoon when she got home, Maya cried. Again. She seemed to be making a habit of crying. She didn't think she'd cried this much since her dad left and Riley didn't leave her side for three days. She wiped her eyes and decided to call Zay. She got his number after she had asked him to be her ‘date’ to homecoming and she felt like he was the perfect person to talk about an issue like this. She was pretty sure that he would understand her feelings. So she called him up and went over to his house where this entire disaster started. She knocked on his door and he greeted her with a friendly hug that she really needed.

“You sounded like you really needed to talk, let's go up to my room,” Zay said, guiding her to his bedroom. 

They both sat down on his bed and Zay was the first one to break the silence. 

“I think there's something going on between Riley and Lucas. I saw them. They looking into each other’s eyes, not saying nothing. I wonder what they were thinking. But being the expert at body language that I am, I know what it is - they wanna kiss.” 

“What? No! Riley would never...you're right,” Maya said, defeated. 

“Wait, so you knew that she was also into guys?”

“I had a clue,” Maya said in a quiet voice. 

“Ah, bisexuals are a tricky beast, bring it it, honey,” Zay scooched over to Maya to wrap her arms around her shoulders, and Maya rested her head there, trying to make sense of all of this. 

“I wish she was bisexual.”

“Trust me, I saw Riley and Lucas. They were gazing into each other’s stupid, stupid, eyes. Felt like I should break into the chemistry lab and use the eye wash.”

Maya sighed, and Zay gave her a sympathetic look, but it was for all the wrong reasons. She wasn’t sad because Riley was bi. She was sad because Riley  _ wasn’t.  _ And she wasn’t entirely sad because she was secretly dating Lucas Friar (or whatever they were doing with each other), she was also sad because she wasn’t  _ really  _ dating Riley. And she wanted to be. So badly. And she needed to get this off her chest.  _ Here goes nothing. _

“If I tell you something super secret, do you promise you won’t tell anyone?” Maya asked, in a serious tone that Zay had never heard her use before. 

“Gay scouts honor,” he replied, holding up two fingers to show his lips would be sealed.

“Riley and I...are faking it.”

“What? Like orgasms? Because I know a guy, actually I  _ know  _ multiple that can get you the best dildos in all of New York City.”

Maya grimaced, (they were  _ fifteen _ , neither one of them were faking orgasms, or having them), and she didn’t want to think about how Zay knew multiple people that he could get sex toys from.

“No, we’re faking being lesbians,” Maya admitted.

Zay gave her a look that read  _ what the fuck _ and Maya completely understood why.

“Well, Riley is,” she explained. “I’m not so sure.”

“You have my attention.”

So for the rest of the night (Maya’s mom allowed her to sleep over) Maya explained everything. She explained how they never really dated before the party. And how they weren’t really dating now. But how Maya wished they were. And how everything seemed to be falling apart. How she got in a fight with Lucas. How she tried to kiss Charlie, someone who she thought she liked, but felt nothing. How she thought that she could be in love with Riley. She cried on his shoulder while he rubbed her back, telling her that it’s a gay girl’s (Maya wasn’t sure if that’s what she was but she didn’t say anything) rite of passage to fall in love with a straight girl, and it was often their best friend. He told her that he would keep her secret. He whispered over and over again that everything would be okay and Maya wished she could have believed it. 

* * *

The next day for Riley was hell. At 10:15 and it was her ‘once a month’ card with her third period teacher, and she went to find the halls empty. So this time she actually went to the bathroom. She sat in the stalls, put her head in her hands and cried. She didn’t know how all of this happened. Before all of this, the world was just her and Maya, and now Maya hadn’t spoken to her since their fight. That meant she had gone a whole  _ twenty  _ hours without talking her best friend and it broke her heart that Maya didn’t reach out and didn’t reply to any of her texts. Riley tried to make excuses for Maya, that she was busy, that she was hanging out with her mom, that something came up. But the other day was a Tuesday and on Tuesdays, Maya never had anything going on, and she wouldn’t hang out with her mom because her mom worked until 11:00 PM at the bakery, and she knew something didn’t come up. She knew Maya was avoiding her. And that just made it sting even more. She wanted Maya to come running into her arms like she did every day at 10:15 but it was clear to her that wasn’t happening so she wandered the halls a bit. And she saw Lucas Friar flirting with yet  _ another  _ girl. The butterflies that were usually in her stomach vanished and she had a fire burning in it instead. She dialed Maya’s number to leave a voicemail, praying to God that she would check it.

“It’s been twenty hours, Peaches. That’s the longest we’ve ever gone without speaking to each other,” she said into the phone, her voice hoarse from crying her eyes out in the bathroom stalls. “I can’t stand not talking to you. I’m in physical pain. This is the worst. Please call me back.  _ I miss you _ .” 

She took another look at Lucas Friar who was now rubbing some blonde’s arm and giving her his Texan charm.

“And you were right about Lucas Friar, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m sorry.  _ I miss you _ ,” she repeated. “Okay, I gotta go back to class. I missed you in the halls today, Peaches. I love you.”

* * *

Maya saw that she got a voicemail from Riley but she knew she wasn’t ready to talk to her. Not yet. Not when she had been crying the entire night to Zay about how they were faking it but it felt so real to her. She shook her head, trying to rid her brain of the thought of Riley. (That was impossible but she tried.) She then saw none other than Charlie Gardner strolling up to her with a smile.  _ Did he think that the kiss was good? Did he feel something that I didn’t feel? Did I lead him on? _

“Hey, Maya,” he greeted, from a far away distance, but as he got closer he noticed how stressed she looked. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Things are...complicated.” It wasn’t a lie, she justified. 

“Well, perhaps this crane will lift your spirit with its wings,” Charlie said, with an adorable smile, getting out a paper crane to give to Maya. “Dorky fact, my mom and I are learning the Japanese art of origami.” 

“Thanks, Charlie,” Maya said, quickly, grabbing the crane, and leaving as fast as she possibly could.

“I’m  _ adorable _ , how is she not seeing this?”

* * *

Maya raced around the courtyard after lunch, desperate to find Zay. She needed advice and he was the only one who knew her...situation...and she felt like he could relate to the entire ‘I’m in love with a straight person who’s in love with another straight person’ fiasco. When Maya finally found Zay, by the benches. She ran to him.

“What are you doing right now?!” she demanded.

“Goin’ to school...like a normal person,” he said, giving her a dubious look. “Did you snort some coke or something this morning?”

“I need you to help me find a girlfriend,” Maya told him.

“You already have a girlfriend.” He pulled her away from all the student and started to speak in a quiet voice. “If people at this school find out that you’re faking it, they will lynch you and not even  _ notice  _ the irony.”

“But I’m not faking it!” she protested. “And that’s the problem! If I’m having these feelings for Riley, then I must be a lesbian!”

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” Zay said. “It’s too early to bust out the labels, honey.” 

“You’re the one who outed me to the whole entire freaking school!” Maya reminded him. (She didn’t think she was  _ ever  _ going to let him forget that one.) “Remember?”

“Yes, but now I realize you are more complicated, and interesting,” Zay replied, with a smile.

“Yesterday I kissed Charlie Gardner and I didn’t feel anything! Why didn’t I feel anything?! He gave me this cool paper crane!” She took out the crane, flapping its wings to show Zay.

“Wow, shocking you didn’t ask him to marry you right then and there,” Zay deadpanned.

Maya rolled her eyes, usually she could appreciate sarcasm (she was usually the one dishing it out) but now was  _ not  _ the time for sarcasm. 

“Look if I find a  _ real  _ girlfriend then my  _ fake  _ girlfriend can go back to being my best friend.”

“That’s what this is about?” he asked, with a sigh.

“These feelings are killing me,” Maya admitted, defeated. “Yesterday I blew up at Riley because I was jealous of Lucas. Who does that?! Trashy women on reality TV - that’s who! Please help me.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Zay complied. “Partly because I want to help you and partly because I am  _ dying  _ to see how this plays out.” 

* * *

Riley’s lunch was very different. Because it was on of her first lunches (of her  _ entire  _ life) without Maya by her side. The only time she had been without Maya at lunch was when they were 8 and Maya had the measles. Ever since then, they vowed to never get sick, and if they got sick, they went to school anyway. Because that one day without the other was unbearable for both of the girls. And Riley thought that they both felt the same way, that they both never wanted to have the other have a lonely lunch, but now that she was alone in the cafeteria, she didn’t know what to think.

And then she saw Lucas smiling and talking to the same girl  _ again.  _ She had given him the cold shoulder all day, ignoring his texts, ignoring his looks, ignoring him in general. Part of that was because she wanted to appease Maya and the other part was because she was jealous of the other girl he kept on smiling at. 

Riley poked at her food, but she had lost her appetite and become slightly nauseous because she missed Maya so much. She couldn’t stop thinking about how much she wished Maya would come sit next to her. But instead, Lucas Friar did. 

“What do you want?” Riley snapped, turning her head to look at him.

“Um...is this a bad time? Sorry, I just wanted to know...um, why you’ve been ignoring me.”

“I haven’t been ignoring you,” she lied, with a dismissive hand motion. “I’ve been busy, my life doesn’t revolve around us, whatever we are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What’s  _ any  _ of this supposed to mean? I’m so confused.”

“ _ You’re  _ confused? Lucas, you act like you like me - ”

“I  _ do _ !”

“You didn’t let me finish. But then you go and flirt with other girls and what am I supposed to think?”

“Who am I flirting with?” Lucas asked, and he looked genuinely confused, which just confused Riley even  _ more.  _ How could he  _ not  _ know that he was flirting?

“That girl...I can’t remember her name but she was wearing a jean jacket and had dirty blonde hair,” Riley tried to find her in the mass array of students but it was no use.

“Riley, I wasn’t flirting with her,” Lucas said, with a slight laugh.

“Yes, yes you were! You were smiling at her, and touching her arm, and you looked like you really liked her and cared about her and - ”

_ “ _ She's my  _ cousin _ ! I'm staying with her and her family for a while.” 

“Oh,” Riley now felt really stupid and guilty for accusing him of something he didn't do. 

“Why do you care anyway? I thought you were with Maya.” 

“I'm not, I don't, I mean I  _ am.  _ I have to go.”

* * *

Maya and Zay cut school for the rest of the day to go to a local coffee shop, Beanz, that was known for being a lesbian hot spot. Maya looked around the cafe, trying to scope out the room.

“I've never seen this many lesbians,” Maya mumbled to Zay. 

“Well, what flavor do you like? We got butch, lipsticks, sporties, Kristen Stewart groupies…”

“Um, I don't know, I like her shirt?” Maya tried. 

“Come on, who here makes your no-no place say yes-yes?” Zay asked, with an elbow nudge. 

“That's the problem. I didn't have these feelings for Riley until I kissed her,” Maya said, then took a deep breath adding, “Guess I should start kissing some lesbians.” 

“Or you know you could start by talking…” before Zay even got the beginning of the sentence out, Maya was gone. “Shoot me a look if you need me!” he yelled. 

Maya was on a mission to find a girl that gave her butterflies in her stomach. She knew that none of them would give her butterflies the way Riley did, because it was  _ Riley  _ but she wanted to feel something like that for someone other than Riley, who could never love her like that. She looked through the crowd and found a really pretty girl. She was probably at least three years older than Maya, but she didn’t care. She had long brown hair that cascaded down her floral shirt and flare jeans. Maya built up her courage and went over to the girl, grabbed her by the floral shirt and went into kiss her, but was met with a gentle shove. Maya sighed, turned around and found another girl - this time she had olive skin, still brown hair and brown eyes though. (Maybe she had a type?) Grabbed her by the shirt as well (why was that her go to move all of the sudden?), but to no avail. This happened a couple of time before she gave up. She then bumped into someone who looked like a mix between Kristen Stewart and Zendaya. And she was definitely checking Maya out. (Maya might not have had gaydar, but this girl was not being shy about looking her up and down.) 

“Hey, um, do you wanna get out of here?”

“Yeah,” the other girl said, with a smile, that Maya could only describe as enchanting.

“You do?” 

“Hell yeah, let’s go to my car.”

The reality of what Maya was about to do hit her and she realized that she probably shouldn’t do this. The girl was probably six years older than her, and it just didn’t feel  _ right.  _ She didn’t feel butterflies. She didn’t feel anything remotely close to what Riley made her feel. Sure, the girl was gorgeous, but it didn’t do anything for Maya.   
“I uh...I have a girlfriend,” Maya muttered, before running off to find Zay.

When she found him, he was shaking his head, and he pulled her in for a side hug.

“Maya, Maya, Maya…”

“What did I do wrong?”

“What did you do  _ right _ ?” he quipped. “You were grabbing people’s shirts, making weird comments, trying to kiss everyone - and that works for gay guys. But lesbians, they don’t just want to hook up. You know, they want to bond, and they want to nest, and they want to fall in love and let themselves go.”

“That sounds amazing. I wish I could do that with - ”

“Nope! Don’t say her name, Hart. We are trying to get you to forget your feelings for her.”

“Yeah, I know.”

* * *

Maya and Zay were back in Zay’s room, looking through the Abigail Adams yearbook, trying to find out which girl Maya might like that wasn’t Riley. But none of them stood out to her. There were pretty girls and Maya could obviously see that they were pretty, but none of them were Riley.

“Okay, so which one do you like the most?” Zay asked, pointing to the page.

“I...I don’t want to meet another girl.”

“A boy?” he gasped. “What an interesting twist.”

“I don’t want to meet another boy.”

“That limits your options,” he replied.

“It won’t make these feelings for Riley go away,” Maya said, with a small pout.

“Well at least we know what you are now.”

“Which is what?” Maya asked, not knowing the answer herself.

“You’re Riley-sexual,” Zay said, with a sheepish smile. (He thought he was clever.)

Maya didn’t think he was that clever, and she showed how unclever she thought he was by giving out an exasperated sigh and letting her head hit the pillow.

“Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?”

That sounded like the dumbest idea on the planet to Maya. No. That sounded like the dumbest idea in the  _ universe _ . Why not just tell Riley how she felt? For starters, she was almost 99% sure that Riley was 100% straight.

“I...Riley has been my best friend since I was six years old,” Maya started, her voice cracking. “If I tell her that I have feelings for her, thing will get weird and we’ll drift apart until one day we'll meet in line at the grocery store and say polite hellos and... pretend like we didn't once know everything there was to know about each other.”

“ _ Oooor _ , you tell her and she feels the same way and then you two live happily ever after!”

“Please,” Maya scoffed. There was no way that Riley felt the same way. She saw the way Riley looked at her and she saw the way Riley looked at Lucas, it wasn’t the same. So why was it that every time Riley looked at her, Maya swore she was falling deeper?

“I’ve seen you two together, she’s always kissing you or holding your hand,” Zay said.

Maya rolled her eyes, she was only kissing her and holding her hand to keep up the act. So that she could make Lucas’s dumb wet dream of being with a lesbian come true. 

“It’s pretty clear that she loves you.”

That Maya knew. But she also knew that Riley didn’t love her the same way.

“As a friend,” she pointed out. 

“As a friend?” Zay asked, raising his eyebrows. He grabbed Maya’s phone. “She’s been texting you all day, I’ve never seen someone use these many emojis. She’s clearly got her own version of your crazy going on.”

“It’s not the same,” Maya protested.

“How do you know? Maybe, just maybe, she feels the same way about you,” Zay suggested.  _ Yeah, right.  _ “But is also too scared to say anything.”

“What about her and Lucas?”

“Classic overcompensation!” Zay said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I pined over Darby for months until I came to terms with sexuality in fourth grade.”

Maya’s phone vibrated again, with yet  _ another  _ text from Riley. Maya took a deep breath trying to remember that she shouldn’t get her hopes up and that hope was for suckers. But damn, if she didn’t miss Riley.

Pressing Riley’s number in her phone, she held it to her ear and said, “Riles? Yeah, hey.”


	9. three's company?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this update is so late lmao. hope you enjoy!!

When Riley saw Maya’s name show up on her caller ID, she had never been more relieved in her life. The past day had been torture without being able to talk to Maya. She had been trying to distract herself by talking with Lucas in the dugout but it was no use. As cute and charming as he was, he wasn’t Maya. So after they talked on the phone, Riley swore to Maya that they were going to have a girls weekend. Because they both needed to be with each other to make up for the lost time. (One day without Maya was too much for Riley to bear, and no amount of cute boys could make up for it.) So, that weekend, she dragged Maya up to her apartment so that they could eat their weight in junk food, and binge watch The Red Planet Diaries.

“I miss just us time,” Riley said, with a pout. “I feel like we barely even see each other since we’ve been a couple.”

“It’s definitely changed things,” Maya said, with a nod of her head.  _ Like the way I feel about you, the way I feel about my sexuality, the way I feel about everything.  _

“But no more! This weekend is all about you and me,” Riley said, with a smile. “No talking about school, lesbians, or Lucas Friar.”

“Can you handle the withdrawal?” Maya asked, her voice laced with disdain and something else Riley couldn’t pinpoint. 

“Veeeery funny,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “But there’s nothing to talk about. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere.”

“We could talk about  _ that _ ,” Maya suggested. As much as she hated Lucas Friar (like really really really hated), she didn’t want Riley to feel uncomfortable discussing her life with her. After all, they were best friends.  _ Just best friends,  _ Maya had to remind herself for the sixteenth time that day.

“Nope! I just want to spend the entire day with my best friend in the whole wide world and laugh at your stupid jokes,” Riley said, as she took out her phone and shut it all the way off.

“I didn’t even know your phone had an off setting.”

“That’s how serious I am, Peaches. The next two days are all about Riley and Maya.”

* * *

Riley and Maya managed to spend the majority of the weekend like they had planned. Eating ice cream, watching The Red Planet Diaries, making stupid jokes, painting each other’s nails, and not talking about Lucas Friar. They sat at the bay window, laughing, and spending time together like they used to. Before the entire ‘lesbian’ thing happened. Maya was content with this. Even though she liked holding Riley’s hand and having Riley kiss her cheek, she missed when it was just them and no one else.

“Do you want me to get some more ice cream?” 

“No, if I eat more ice cream, I might die,” Maya groaned, she was seriously starting to regret eating an entire carton in one day.

“Okay, so now what do you want to do?”

Maya pondered a bit, but then a knock came on Riley’s bedroom door.  _ Who could that be?  _ Riley wondered.  _ It couldn’t be my parents, they just barge in. _

“Who is it?” Riley called out.

“Shawn.”

“Come in, Uncle Shawn!”

Shawn opened the door and sat in the middle of the two girls in the bay window. They both looked at Shawn, curiously.

“What’s going on?” Riley asked.

“I’m going to ask your mother to marry me.”

“Shawn, my mother’s already married to my fat - oh, you mean  _ Maya’s  _ mother.”

“Yes, Maya’s mother. Katy. You know, the one I’ve been dating?”

“Okay, you’re going to propose to her and?” Maya prompted.

“I just wanted to let you know and see where you stand with it.”

If Maya were being completely honest with herself, she wasn’t exactly sure where she stood with it. She cared about her mother, she cared about Shawn, but marriage? Her mother and father were married, and everyone knows how well that worked out. It was a lot. Her mother was also still giving her weird treatment ever since she came out. She wasn’t being outwardly homophobic but Maya could tell that she wasn’t thrilled that she was gay. (She wasn’t. Or was she? She wasn’t sure anymore.)

“I think it’s great!” Maya said, forcing a smile. “You love her, she loves you. Get married!”

“Are you sure? It’s a big thing and I want you to be one hundred percent okay with this, Maya,” Shawn insisted. 

“I am, I want you two to be happy.”

“Okay, thanks, kid,” he replied, patting her shoulder. He got up and added, “I’m proposing tonight.”

“Good luck!” Riley and Maya chirped, as he left the room.

“Okay, Peaches, how do you  _ really  _ feel about it?”

“What do you mean? I said I was fine with it, I’m fine with it.”

“Maya, come on, I know you better than that.”

“I mean, it’s just...marriage is a big deal. It’s so...final, and legal. And I don’t want my mother to have to go through what she went through with my father again.”

“Shawn’s not your father, he’s not Kermit,” Riley declared, taking Maya’s hand into her own. “I think your mom and Shawn make each other really happy. And you and Shawn care about each other, so it’ll be like a big happy family.”

Maya took a deep breath.  _ Riley is right. Riley is always right.  _ “You’re right. I just...also, my mom and I aren’t in a very good place right now. With the whole lesbian thing. She’s acting like she’s okay with it, but I know she’s not. She’s a great actress but I can see through it.”

“She’ll come around, I promise.”

“Maybe we should just marry each other, she would  _ love  _ that,” Maya snickered, trying to cover up the fact that she actually wanted it to happen.

“Who cares what she thinks?  _ I’m  _ your family,” Riley squeezed Maya’s hand and gave her a reassuring look.

“I know,” she whispered. “And I’m so lucky.”

Riley smiled at Maya, and she swore that Riley’s smile could cure cancer.

“You wanna talk about Lucas, don’t you?”

“Yes, but - ”

“Talk.”

“Okay, I feel like we’ve been  _ really  _ close to kissing but he’s never done it. I think it’s because he’s not attracted to me.”

“That’s not possible,” Maya said, rolling her eyes. How anyone could  _ not  _ be attracted to Riley was beyond her. 

“Then why else would he not kiss me? There have been so many times when it seems like we’re about to kiss and then he either just pulls away or says he has to go. It doesn’t make any sense. Zero sense! Nada!”

They spent the rest of the night talking until Maya had to go home. When Riley was taking out the trash, she accidentally bumped into someone. And that someone was Lucas Friar.

“Um, is there a reason you’re standing outside my apartment?”

“I tried texting you, like  _ all  _ weekend,” Lucas explained. 

“You did? Oh, my phone was off,” Riley replied.

“I just wanted to explain something,” he started.

“Please don’t, Lucas.”

“The reason I pulled away is…”

“Because you’re not attracted to me! I get it! You’re Lucas Friar. You could have anyone you wanted in the entire school. So um, go hook up with whoever you want, don’t try to make it work with some lesbian you’re not even into.”

“Riley…”

“It’s fine!” Riley insisted, trying not to show any emotion, but failing on every level.

“You’ve got it all wrong.  _ Of course  _ I’m attracted to you. The problem isn’t  _ you,  _ it’s  _ Maya _ .”

“Maya? Why would...oh, right, my girlfriend.”

"Look, maybe you two are okay with this sneaking around thing, but I'm not. I tried to be, but it's just not who I am."

“I get it,” Riley nodded.

“I wish there was a way we could make this work but I just don’t think we can.”

“We could have a throuple date?” Riley offered, her voice wavering ever so slightly. 

“A throuple date? Like a couple with three people?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, praying that he would accept. “That way I can be with you  _ and  _ Maya, and you don’t have to feel guilty.”

“I’ll think about it. I have to go home. Goodnight, Riley.”

“Night, Lucas.”

* * *

 

The next day after school, Riley proposes the idea to Maya who now has a horrified expression on her face.  _ A throuple date? What the hell?  _ She furrows her eyebrows, trying to think what would make Riley think this is even a  _ remotely  _ good idea. If they have a throuple date or become a throuple, there are things that are bound to happen, namely Lucas finding out that they’re faking it. Maya would probably also snap at him. (She was finally at a place where she could admit that she was jealous, no matter how much she wished that she weren’t.) And she would have to spend an entire date, watching Riley and Lucas stare into each other’s eyes and giggle at each other and hold each other’s hand, and  _ God,  _ just the thought of it made Maya sick.

“No, Riley, I will not go on a fucking throuple date with you and Lucas! Why would you even suggest that?”

“Well, he didn’t pull away because he wasn’t attracted to me,” the small smile that was on Riley’s lips made Maya’s stomach churn. “He pulled away because he felt guilty about sneaking around behind your back. Turns out he’s actually  _ really  _ into me.”

Maya rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe Riley. Actually, right now, because of the way she had been acting lately, she  _ could  _ believe Riley. Because Riley was so obsessed with Lucas Friar that she would do anything, including offering up something as ridiculous as a throuple date.

“I know! I know, it’s crazy. I heard what he said and I just…”

“Suggested ménage à trois?!” Riley had no idea what that meant but she was guessing it had something to do with the number three.

“Well, don’t worry, I’m going to tell him no,” Riley affirmed. “I mean, we couldn’t. We  _ wouldn’t. You  _ wouldn’t. Would you?”

“No! I will  _ not  _ have a throuple date with you and Lucas!” Maya exclaimed, echoing her earlier statement.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Maya went over to Zay’s house (again). (She had been making quite a habit of it recently.) They were sitting on the couch, watching Project Runway. Zay was watching because he enjoyed it, Maya only agreed to watching because she enjoyed making fun of the contestants. But after a contestant did something particularly heinous to a dress and Maya didn’t say a word, Zay knew something was up.

“What’s up, sugar?” 

“What do you mean?”

“This guy does  _ that  _ and you don’t even roll your eyes? Talk to me.” Zay paused the TV and looked at Maya, expectantly. 

“Well, Riley and Lucas like each other, right?”

“Right.”

“But Lucas has been holding back, like not even kissing her, because he feels guilty. About you know, me and Riley.”

“Classic Lucas,” Zay commented, with a nod. “As his best friend, I can say that he’s like a moral compass.”

_ A moral compass that has a thing for a taken lesbian just because she’s taken and a lesbian,  _ Maya thought bitterly to herself.

“And Riley suggested a throuple date.”

“A throuple date? Like all y’all going together on a date,  _ together _ ? Like some Sister Wives shit?”

Maya nodded, grimacing at the thought of going on a date with Lucas Friar.

“So I obviously told her that I wasn’t do it, I mean, so many things could go wrong. I could snap at Lucas because I’m jealous, I could admit that I was jealous, he could figure out that we were faking it, and on top of that, I would have to watch them together the entire time,” Maya rambled. 

“Calm down, Maya. You’re going on that throuple date,” he demanded.

“Okay, I understand Riley losing it, but you?”

“Maya, sweetie, this is like a bicurious bat signal,” he explained. “Riley wants you to go on a date with you.”

“ _ And  _ Lucas,” she pointed out.

“One does not suggest a throuple date with their  _ best friend  _ all willy-nilly. She’s got to be into you, subconsciously or whatever.”

“Don’t get my hopes up,” Maya warned. (Hope is for suckers, she learned that a long time ago.) “You could be wrong.”

“Or I could be right,” Zay retorted. “You never know until you try.” 

* * *

What Zay had said had been running through Maya’s mind all night. Should she do it? Did Riley really like her? Was this more than just a ploy to get closer to Lucas? What did any of this mean? She couldn’t make sense of anything that was happening. She knew that she had to talk to Riley but it was too late in the night for her to go over to the Matthews’ apartment so she settled for calling Riley.

“Peaches? What’s up?” Riley asked, picking up the phone with a yawn.

“Oh, did I wake you?” 

“No, I’m just tired, you know - I had so much homework to do after you left,” Riley explained. “Where were you?”

“Zay’s. We were watching Project Runway. He likes it. I like to make fun of it.”

“Sounds like you. Anyway, why are you calling? Is something wrong?”

“I think we should do it, the throuple.”

“Really? Peaches, you’d do that for me?!”

“I’d do anything for you.”

“You’re sure about this?”

“If you’re sure about it.”

“Oh my god, I love you! You’re the best! I promise it won’t be weird  _ at all _ .”

“Yeah, I, uh...I think it being weird is kind of inevitable.”

“Yay!!! I’m so excited, Peaches!! I’m going on a date with  _ Lucas Friar  _ and my best friend! Okay, I gotta go, I love you!”

“Love you too, Riles,” Maya muttered into the phone before hanging up to text Zay that she was going through with the throuple date.

* * *

That morning, Riley and Maya walked into the school, with their arms linked as usual. They were set out to find Lucas to tell him that they wanted to go on a date with him. Both of them at the same time. The concept was still a little weird to Maya, but she was trying to be okay with it. Because of what Zay said, that this could mean that Riley likes her, and if she was lucky, she would get to kiss and hold Riley’s hand during the date. It was obvious that they were doing this for completely different reasons and they were both selfish reasons. After a few minutes of scoping out the array of students, they finally found Lucas, loitering by the school doors. They made a beeline towards him.

“Um, hi,” Lucas said, confusion crossing his face.

“Hey. Let’s have a throuple date,” Maya said, her bluntness surprising both Riley and Lucas.

“Really?” Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Riley, I thought you were joking about that. I mean, I’ve heard of people offering them but never following through with it.”

“Our people don’t joke about these kinds of things,” Maya said, lying through her teeth.

“Are you guys sure?” Lucas asked.

“I mean,  _ we’re  _ sure, if  _ you’re  _ sure,” Riley said, hoping that he would say yes.

“I’m totally sure. Should I like...bring anything?”

“Just you and your charming self,” Riley said, in a flirtatious manner that made Maya sick to her stomach with the all too familiar burn.

“So what time?” Maya asked, wanting to just get this damn thing over with. The more she spent time with Riley and Lucas practically eye humping. 

“Oh, we’re doing this now? Um, how’s Friday?” he offered.

“Great, Friday it is!” Riley said, eagerness lacing her voice because she was going to go on a date with  _ Lucas Friar _ (and Maya but she was more excited about the Lucas part).

“See you there,” Maya said. 

* * *

That afternoon Maya and Riley were sitting at the bay window with awkward silence in between them. Maya couldn't stop thinking about how she was going to survive a date with the girl she was in love with and the boy who said girl was in love with. (Maya was honestly not sure if Riley loved Lucas. She hoped she didn't.)

It was Riley who finally broke the silence by saying, “I’m going to go change into the outfit that I think would be great for the date.”

“Okay.” ( _ Was she going to change in front of Maya? _ God, she hoped not. She didn’t think she could handle that.)

Thankfully, Riley went into her walk in closet to pick out her outfit and change. Maya let out a quiet sigh of relief but then her breath got shaky when she saw Riley come out of the closet. (Maya wasn’t sure if that pun was intended or not.) Riley was wearing a sequin purple dress and black gladiator sandals, and Maya felt like her breath was taken away. She always found Riley beautiful (no matter what she was wearing) but this was on a whole new level. Her heart couldn’t stop beating out of chest, she was sure it was going to burst.

“Okay, this just got very real,” Maya commented, after she regained her breath.

“I know this like, every kind of awkward,” Riley started. (That was an understatement.) “And if you want to back out…”

“I don’t want to back out,” Maya said, quickly. “Unless you want me to back out.”

( _ Please don’t want me to back out, please don’t want me to back out, please don’t want me to back out _ ).

“Of course not. There’s no one I’d rather do this with,” Riley replied, smiling at Maya.

“Really?” Maya’s voice shook, like she thought her hands would if she were to move them. And her damn heart started beating faster again.

“Yeah, and besides we’re both so good at faking it.”

“Too good,” Maya chuckles, nervousness dropping off her lips. 

“Well you can never be  _ too  _ good,” Riley pointed out. “Which is why I think we should rehearse.” 

“Rehearse?” 

_ No, no, no. This seems like a recipe for disaster and disappointment. This is not good. Fuck. Shit.  _

“Yeah, we want to be believable, we want Lucas to think we're an _ actual  _ couple.” 

Maya swallowed, trying to gulp down all of her feelings. Trying not to look like she was absolutely heartbroken at the fact that Riley had used the term actual. Because it was a painful reminder that they weren't and that they'd never be. 

“Okay, whatever you want.”

“So,” Riley started, folding her hands. “I think I’ll probably be sitting next to you and across from Lucas.”

“That’s good three way feng shui,” Maya quipped, with a small chuckling.

“Don’t laugh, Peaches!” Riley lightly scolded. “We need to be convincing.”

_ I don’t know how to be more convincing, I already feel like I’m falling head over heels in love with you. Everyone else can see it. Why can’t you?  _

“So, we’ll walk into the date holding hands,” she starts and grabs Maya’s hand with a light squeeze. Maya tries not to think about how well their hands fit together and how she wouldn’t mind holding it for the rest of her life. 

Riley turned to face Maya, their hands still intertwined, and Maya couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath when she was looking at her  girlfriend best friend. Riley let go of Maya’s hand and softly brushed some hair out the blonde girl’s face. Something she had done many times before but this time Maya swore there was a certain kind of intimacy in it. Riley leaned in and took a deep breath through her nose. 

“You smell yummy,” she said.

“I do?” Maya’s voice was laced with hope.

“Egg salad?”

“Oh, my mom brought me a sandwich from the bakery for lunch,” she explained with a nervous chuckle.

Riley smiled and let out a chuckle as well.

“I guess there’s nothing left to do but…”

“Kiss?” Riley suggested.

_ I was going to go with sit down and eat but your suggestion is a lot better. _

Riley leaned in until their faces were almost touching, and Maya’s heart was beating out of her chest. She then covered Maya’s lips with her hand, and proceeded to kiss the hand. Maya raised her eyebrows in surprise.  _ I can’t believe I thought we were actually going to kiss. _

“I can’t believe I’m going to go on my first date!” Riley squealed. “I wish you could be there.”

“Won’t I be there? Isn’t that the whole point?”

“Well yeah, at first, and then you’ll just make up some excuse and get out of there,” Riley explained.

_ I will? I can’t believe I thought we were actually going to go on a date. _

“An excuse?”

“Like...something coming up with your mom or…” Riley furrowed her eyebrows when she looked at Maya’s confused expression. “Maya, you didn’t actually think I was asking you—” 

“No!” Maya replied, a little too quickly. “I was just thinking, that maybe I could get food poisoning from the egg salad I had for lunch.”

“Good thinking, you’re so smart, Peaches,” Riley replied. “We should probably go through this again.”

_ Oh boy. _


	10. the date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone!!! sorry this update took so long to do, i've had a pretty bad case of writer's block but i finally got some muse so here's the next chapter!! hope you like it and sorry it's on the shorter side!!!

Later that night, Maya was pacing in her room. As much as she could pace, given the small amount of room. She thought that her heart was going to stop at any minute. She was feeling too many things at once (anger, disappointment, jealousy, resentment) and she needed it all to stop _.  _ She needed everything to stop. Her shaking hands managed to get her phone and call Zay for the advice that she so desperately needed. She was about to say rant but then she heard, “Leave a message after the beep.” 

“Zay, what the fuck?” Maya complained, her voice turning into a whine. “I’m  _ freaking out.  _ Where are you? Why is your phone going to voicemail. Fuck!” She almost punches a wall but opts to punch a pillow instead. “You’re the one who talked me into this throuple date thing and told me to look for signs. Well, Riley gave me the big old stop sign.” She paces around her room a little bit more. “And I’m sure if you were  _ here,  _ you would tell me to run right through it because this is my last chance to see if she and I will ever be more than best friends. And I'd roll my eyes and realize…” Her eyes widened instead of her anticipated rolling. “You’re right. I have to take my destiny into my own hands. If Riley expects me to leave, I have to get her to want me to stay.” A light chuckle escapes Maya’s mouth, as opposed to the usually humorless one that does. “Zay, thank you! Wherever you are, you’re a genius!”

The rest of the night, Maya planned her outfit. Instead of wearing something she would normally wear (a band t shirt, a pair of jeans, and ratty old sneakers), Maya decided that she would give this outfit a lot more effort than she would for anything else. At least 84%. She chose to wear a golden jacket, a multicolor top, a studded black skirt, and combat boots. Even though her self confidence was pretty much shot, Maya could admit that when she tried it on before she went to bed, she looked amazing. There was  _ no way  _ Riley wouldn’t notice. 

* * *

Riley danced around her room as she was getting ready for the big date. Her parents of course thought that this was just a date with Maya, and had no clue about Lucas. She slipped into the purple dress that she had picked out with Maya earlier, slid on her gladiator heels, and applied just a little bit of lip gloss. (Lip gloss was a big deal, lip gloss meant kissing.) She squealed to herself because this wasn’t just her first date with Lucas (and Maya, but she wasn’t counting that), it was her first date  _ ever.  _ And everything needed to be perfect. She was brushing her hair, for the fifth time that night, when Topanga came in.

“Oh, you look beautiful,” she gushed. “My little girl. On a date with her  _ girlfriend.  _ I couldn’t be more proud if I tried.”   
Riley smiled at her mother, albeit a painfully forced smile, because of the pang of guilt she had for lying to her parents, and everyone. But her guilt went away quickly because she remembered that she was going on a date with  _ Lucas Friar.  _ She applied another coat of lipstick before running out of the house and to the Nighthawk Diner, because even though Maya’s mother didn’t work there anymore, they still got free meals.

* * *

Maya stood at the door of the diner waiting for Lucas and Riley. She had gotten there earlier than they had said, so she could psych herself up for the date. She tugged at the sleeves of her golden jacket as she nervously waited for Riley to arrive. To her surprise, Riley and Lucas came in the diner at the exact same time.  _ Is that some sort of sign? Please don’t let it be a sign.  _ And Riley’s jaw dropped a bit when she saw Maya. _ Wow, Maya’s giving this like...84%. Holy shiitake mushrooms, Maya looks absolutely stunning. _

“Wow,” Riley let out. “You look...amazing...Peaches.”

“Thanks.” Maya’s lips curved into a smile as she blushed deep red. “So do you.”

Riley had to remind herself that they were here on a date, as a couple, not just best friends (and Maya had to do the opposite), so she grabbed Maya’s hand and squeezed it. They turned to face each other to do the kiss that they had rehearsed. Maya hoped that Riley wouldn’t put her hand over her mouth this time. The blonde girl’s heart was beating out of her chest but it seemed like she wasn’t the only one who was nervous. So she brushed back Riley’s hair, looked at her ( _ really  _ looked at her), and whispered, “relax.”

Riley nodded, and they finally closed the gap between their lips. The kiss was passionate yet tender, and Maya felt like she was going to explode. They finally came up for air, after kissing for what felt like an eternity, and both of their eyes glazed over while they looked into each others.

“Woah,” Riley whispered.

“I know.”

This time there was no ‘way to sell it.’ And Lucas was behind Riley, smirking, probably with a hardon. 

“Do you wanna sit down?” Riley offered.

“Sure,” they both replied simultaneously, as they all went to sit down at the table that they had reserved for tonight. And just like Riley and Maya had practiced, they sat next to each other, and Riley sat across from Lucas. 

“So, what’s your deal, Huckleberry?” Maya asked Lucas.

“Huckleberry?” 

“Would you prefer Ranger Rick? Or Hopalong?” she challenged.

“No, Huckleberry is fine. Your views of my Texan heritage don’t bother me,” Lucas shrugged, giving Maya a satisfied smirk. “You know, my uncle always says, be the eagle and soar above the mockingbird.”

“You’re not playing this right,” she glared at him, grabbing him by the shirt collar from across the table.

Instead of saying anything back, Lucas just stared at Maya, and his satisfied smirk turned into more a seductive one. And even Riley noticed.

“I...um...I can’t do this,” Riley said, taking her napkin out her lap and running out of the diner. 

Maya and Lucas stared at each other for a good few minutes, until Lucas finally said, “I’m gonna go home, um, thanks for the dinner.”

“We didn’t even have -- you’re welcome."


	11. breaking up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i couldn't think of a better title, i'm sorry)

Riley was sitting on her bed that weekend when Maya came through the window. Riley turned to face her and smiled. _Why is she smiling? I haven’t smiled at all since the date._

“So, I’m thinking of rearranging my bedroom a little bit,” Riley stated, talking about a mile a minute. “Of course the bay window stays the same, but maybe I should move my bed? What do you think?”

Maya’s eyes widened. She knew Riley did everything she did to avoid conflict, tried to pretend like nothing was happening, but this was absurd. Surely she couldn’t just _not_ talk about what happened, right? _Right?_ Maya was silent for a while until Riley broke it by saying, “I heard that changing your room around can really increase your positive energy, or something like that. My mom was talking about it.”

“We’re not going to talk about the date?!” Maya blurted out. “You ran out of it like you had just seen a killer clown.”

Riley shuddered, ever since she had seen the movie _It,_ clowns freaked her out. She regained her composure and shrugged.

“You know how sometimes I get kind of confused? Kind of like when someone in a movie winds up in a strange town and doesn’t know how they got there?”

Maya shook her head no, she had no idea what the heck Riley was talking about.

“That was me! I don’t remember anything about it.”

_Lucky you._

“Why did you leave?” Maya asked, bluntly. She had never been one to beat around the bush. “Was it our kiss?”

_Please say no, please say no, please say no._

Riley’s mouth opened in surprise. “Uh...no.”

The pause was a little too long for anyone to believe that she wasn’t lying.

“I just realized that things got too out of control, and you know how I am when I can’t control things.”

Maya nodded, Riley was much like her mother, Topanga, in that aspect.

“I mean, it was totally out of control!” Riley said, flapping her arms around. “I made you dress up in a _skirt,_ and go on a date with a boy you don’t even like.”

Riley bit her lip and asked, “You don’t like him, right?”

“Riley, you can’t be serious,” Maya replied, rolling her eyes. “ _Huckleberry?_ I don’t want to go out with him. He doesn’t wanna go out with me. He’s not going out with me. He’s _never_ going out with me.”

“See? This lie has made everything so complicated and weird between us.”

_Which is why I didn’t even want to go through with it in the first place._

“So I think we should break up,” Riley stated.

Maya swore she physically felt her heart break when she heard Riley say that. Sure, they weren’t _really_ a couple (something she had to remind herself more and more these days) but she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t enjoy getting to hold Riley’s hand, kiss her on the cheek, and be able to tell everyone that she was her girlfriend.

“Now?” Maya raised her eyebrows.

“It was one of my stupid plans that just blew up in our faces,” Riley said with a sigh. “I mean, you agree, enough is enough, right?”

Maya wanted to say that she didn’t agree, enough _wasn’t_ enough, because she wanted more.

“But you said you wanted to wait until our status in school was cemented. Riles, I know being popular is a big deal for you.”

“Well, if the price is that is making you lie, then I don’t want it.”

If this had been in any other situation, Maya would think that was really sweet of Riley to say. (She still thought it was sweet but it still left a bitter taste in her mouth.)

“But we have to handle this really delicately. People at school _really_ ship Rilaya, that’s our new nickname.”

“I’m guessing you have a plan?” Maya said, rolling her eyes but still looking at Riley affectionately.

“And each plan has a baby plan! And it’s color coded!” Riley exclaimed, getting her binder, labeled _How to Break Up with Your (Fake) Girlfriend and Make it Look Real._

Maya flipped through the binder.

“Step one, skip each other’s premieres?” Maya’s voice was dubious and somewhat amused.

“Okay, I might have based it off of celebrity couples but it still stands!”

“Step two, dive into work,” Maya scoffed at that a little. Like Maya Hart would _ever_ dive into work, she barely did her homework as it is. “Step three, issue a joint press release saying we decided to go separate ways but we’ll always be best friends?”

“Just like we were before all this craziness happened and just like we are when people aren’t around,” Riley explained while handing Maya a piece of paper. “Here’s a list of excuses if people ask where I am.”

“Why would people ask me that?”

“Because we’re not walking to school together today,” Riley said. “And we’re spending today apart.”

* * *

Maya ran to find Zay, something she had been doing quite a lot recently. When she finally did, she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

“Whoa, sugar, where’s the fire?” Zay asked, taking her arms off of his shoulders and furrowing his eyebrows.

“Throuple date happened,” she whispered, so no one else would hear. “Me and Riley kissed.”

“Okay, calm down,” he replied, putting his arm around her shoulder. “She felt something when you kissed and now she’s pushing you away!”

“You think?” Maya asked, her voice hopeful but doubtful. “I mean, it was a really hot kiss. I was surprised the diner didn’t burst into flames.”

“Ugh, I love lesbians. So elegant. What happened after the kiss?” Zay asked, removing his arm from her shoulder.

“Once we came up for air, we looked into each other’s eyes, like _really_ looked. And we saw each other.” There was no other way for Maya to describe the kiss other than that. “I mean we really _saw_ each other. Maybe for the first time.”

“So after the hot kiss?”

“And then Lucas and I bantered a bit, Riley ran out, and now she doesn’t wanna talk about it,” Maya replied, softly.

“Wait, you _flirted_ with Lucas?”

“Sh!” Maya hit Zay’s shoulder.

“How was it?”

“You know when you see a butterfly? And the world stops for a second? And then it’s gone? It was like that.”

“Wow,” Zay gave Maya a look.

“No, not wow,” Maya said. “Being with Riley was _wow._ If Lucas was spotting a butterfly, Riley was spotting a soaring eagle. I mean, I was _with her_ and it was _magical._ And I wish it could have lasted forever.”

But it couldn’t because they were just best friends.

“Honey, I don’t wanna shoot your eagle, but she flew away as soon as you and Lucas interacted.”

“And?”  
“And she sounds _jealous._ ”

“No, she’s in denial,” Maya said, trying to convince Zay (and herself.) “I just need to stop us from breaking up so she can finally accept her feelings for me.”

“I hate keeping secrets from Lucas, I haven’t kept a secret from him since grade school.”

“You’re not going to break the gay scouts honor, are you?” Maya asked, in a semi-threatening tone.

“Are you kidding? They would strap me of my badge and leatherwork, and I look _good_ in leather. Let’s go get lunch, girl.”

They made their way to the cafeteria to get some lunch, picking up a tray and going to greet Geralyn, who was now in the high school.

“Hi Geralyn,” Maya said, with a smile. (Ever since they had worked in the cafeteria in middle school, they had become very friendly.)

“Maya, I see you’re solo. Where’s your other half?”

_Being in denial about her feelings for me and trying to cover it up with Liam._

“Um, she needed to focus...on her studies,” Maya said with a nod.

“Good for her,” Geralyn replied with a smile. “Such a smart girl, that one.”

As soon as Maya and Zay had gotten their lunch and left, Geralyn said to the next people in line, “Did y’all hear? Riley and Maya are breaking up!”

* * *

 When Maya was walking out to the quad to go eat her lunch, _without Riley,_ everyone was looking at her like she was a hurt puppy. She hated when people looked at her like that. It was how they looked at her when she told them about her home life, when she told them about her dad, about all her trust issues. Like they _pitied_ her and she hated it. But this time, she was really unsure of why everyone was staring at her.

“Poor Maya,” she heard someone mumbled in the distance.

She was sure they were right but she wasn’t sure why.

“What? Is my fly open?” she looked down to see that her jean zipper was perfectly in tact.

“Hang in there,” a kid shouted to her.

She shook her head, and went to one of the tables to go eat her lunch. _Without Riley._

Little did she know that Riley was sitting just a few tables away, talking to the school journalist, Isadora Smackle.

“Give me an interview for the school’s Tumblr,” the journalist demanded. “This is a _huge_ story and my readers want to know what happened.”

“How did you hear that we’re breaking up?” Riley asked, chuckling nervously.

“Oh, bubbles, the whole school knows,” Isadora said, with a sympathetic look.

“The whole school?” _Damn, word travels fast._ “Please respect our privacy during this difficult time.”

Riley ran off, not wanting to say anything more. She felt weird talking about her (fake) relationship with Maya when she wasn’t with her.

* * *

Lucas was in the batting cages at the baseball field, violently hitting each ball as it came towards him. He couldn’t believe he went through with the throuple date, just for Riley to back out. And now they’re breaking up? This was bullshit. He turned to see Riley in the dugout. He dropped his bat and went to give her a piece of his mind.

“Lucas,” Riley tried to start but the look in his eye kind of scared her. “I’m guessing you heard.”

“About your breakup? Yeah,” he spat.

“Word travels a lot faster than I thought,” Riley said, with a frown.

“Is this because of the throuple date?” he asked. “You know, it’s pretty messed up that you set up the entire thing just to run out.”

“That’s _not_ what this is about,” she assured him.

“Look, I don’t know what your deal is, Riley,” he said. “But I don’t want to be dragged into whatever twisted plan this is.”

“No, Lucas, look,” Riley pleaded. “When I saw you and Maya...I just realized that this whole thing was just insane. Everything was out of control and I hate when things are out of control. And I forced you to go on a date with a girl you don’t even like.”

_Please don’t say you like her._

“Are you serious?” he scoffed. “Riley, I am _so_ over all of this drama! I told you that I didn’t want to break you and Maya up!”

“You didn’t,” she replied weakly.

“Then what did?” he challenged, glaring at her. “You know, sometimes you are just too much for me, Riley.”

He stormed out of the dugout, leaving Riley sitting on the bench, thinking about how everything was ruined.

* * *

Riley soon regained her composure, as she had learned to do very quickly now, and set out to find Maya. When she finally did, she grabbed her hand and dragged her to a place where no one would see them. Maya was glad that they were talking now. Until she heard what Riley was saying.

“We’re breaking up because we want to go to different colleges?”

“What? It’s true and we need a good reason to break up,” Riley explained. “And none of us wanna look like the bad guy, so we pull a Brad and Jennifer.”

_There she goes again with her dumb celebrity references that I don’t understand because the only magazine we get is ‘Reader’s Digest.’_

“You’re demented,” Maya stated. “We’re freshmen, we don’t have to worry about colleges until junior year!”

“The college thing speaks to our future as a couple. We obviously want different things so we’re moving on. But we’ll _always_ be best friends.”

“You know, I don’t know much about Brad and Jennifer, but they don’t seem like best friends.”

“We don’t know that! Maybe when Angelina is away, they order pizza.”

“Do you hear yourself? You sound insane, Riles! I think we should just slow the whole thing down and -”

“It’s too late,” Riley cut her off. “All we can do now is control the message. Isadora Smackle, you know the genius slash journalist, requested a sit-down today. And I said yes.”

_Without asking me? Why am I not surprised?_

“No! I’m not discussing our relationship with the school’s Tumblr, Riley! Don’t I get a say in this?”

“I’m the planner.”

_Of course I don’t get a say in this, I just follow orders and go along with you._

“What does that make me?”

“The executor, sounds cool, right? I’ll see you after school.”

* * *

Maya and Riley were sitting across from Isadora Smackle, giving their interview for the school’s Tumblr. (Maya couldn’t say no to Riley, no matter how annoyed she was.)

“Here’s the deal, I have no filter so I will ask you very blunt questions. I don’t pull punches and I won’t twist your words, but I can smell bullshit a mile away,” Isadora stated, folding her arms across her chest. “My reader’s expect the _truth._ ”

_They’re not going to get anything close to the truth._

Isadora took out her phone and started recording.

“So why is everyone’s favorite couple calling it quits?”

“The split is completely amicable,” Riley started. “We just have different visions for our futures.”

“How so?” Isadora questioned.

“Well, I see myself going to a big university, while Maya wants to go to a small arts college,” Riley explained.

“Actually, Isadora, I might have changed my mind,” Maya chimed in. “I do want some place bigger. The more people, the better!”

“No, you don’t,” Riley frowned. “You _hate_ people.”

“Who hates people? Not me! I love people!”

“Last week, you said that you would rather be devoured by termites than go to a state school,” Riley said.

“Sometimes we push away the things that we really want,” Maya stated, hoping that Riley would finally get the hint and stop denying the feelings they had for each other.

“So, there’s hope for you two?” Isadora asked.

Maya nodded her head while Riley shook her head.

“Well, you seem to be on a different page,” Isadora remarked. “Maybe you’re covering the _real_ reason for the split.”   
“Excuse me?”

“I understand there was a throuple date with Lucas Friar.”


	12. making up (faking up)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's another update!! let me know what you guys think in the comments!!

Lucas and Zay were sitting in Zay’s truck when Lucas said, “This is my fault. I  _ knew  _ Riley had a girlfriend, but I kept seeing her.”

“Why you beating yourself up like this, bro?” Zay asked. “It’s not your fault they broke up.”

“Trust me,” he sighed. “You know how my family is, we’re ruin everything.”

“Not this again, man. Look, you’re not the asshole, and you don’t deserve to be treated like one,” Zay told Lucas. “Oooh, I’ll create another scandal to keep people distracted.”

“No, Zay, come on, let it go.”   


“Fine,” he whined.

* * *

The next day, Maya was still getting the pitiful stares. People asking if she was okay. People telling her to stay strong. She just wanted to get away from all the states. She ran into Lucas; when they were trying to get away from each other, they actually managed to grab each other. She quickly got away from him as soon as she could. Maya then felt a tap on her shoulder. When she turned around, she saw no other than Charlie Gardner. Charlie was a nice guy and he was okay looking. He was no Riley but she had to rid her mind of Riley.  _ Maybe this is what I need. A distraction. _

“Hey, so I heard a rumor that you and Riley broke up,” he started cautiously. “Since it made its way to me, I'm guessing it's true.”

“Yeah,” Maya nodded, with a sad look on her face. “We did.”

“I'm here if you need a shoulder to cry on, I got two of them,” Charlie offered, patting his shoulders. 

“I do seem to have lunches free all of the sudden.”

“I lunch,” Charlie said, hopefulness creeping out of his throat. 

“How's today?”

“Perfect.”

* * *

Riley had been running all over the school before first period started, trying to find Isadora. Although they never really  _ said  _ anything about Lucas in the interview they gave for the Tumblr blog, people were already speculating about things. They said that their silence at the mention of the throuple date was evidence enough and implied that Lucas had something to do with their breaking up.  _ Which he didn't...Right? _

“Isadora!” Riley called out to the reporter who then made her way over. “We need to talk.”

“About?”

“People are getting the wrong idea about why Maya and I broke up.”

“On the record?” Isadora asked, taking out her phone to record. 

“Our breakup isn't Lucas Friar’s fault,” she asserted. 

“My sources say otherwise,” the journalist challenged. 

“What sources? What are you talking about?”

Isadora showed Riley a picture of Lucas and Maya grabbing each other earlier that morning. Riley's face contorted and she wasn't exactly sure what she was feeling. Jealousy, betrayal, anger, sadness...it was like a tidal wave of emotions and she felt like she was drowning when she saw the picture. She took a deep breath and put on her best ‘I'm okay, no,  _ really,  _ I'm okay’ face. 

“Triangles are very unstable. It's very easy to topple over. I think what's better than a triangle is a quadrilateral. Anyway, anything you wanna share with the people, Ms. Matthews?” 

“It's been really hard dealing with Maya’s anger problems and violence!” Riley said quickly before running off. 

* * *

10:15, Maya and Riley met in the hallway. (Some traditions were too sacred to change.) Except instead of running to each other’s arms like they usually did, Maya looked like she just wanted to run  _ at  _ Riley. They sat down on the bench and both bit their lips.

“I had to do what I had to do,” Riley defended. 

“Anger problems? Violence?!”

“Isn't that what broke up a lot of couples in the binder?” Riley snapped. 

“I'd like to know how lying and saying that I have anger problems and am violent has to do with helping Lucas,” Maya quipped, fuming. 

“So  _ now  _ you care about him,” Riley scoffed. “Maybe we should talk about that picture of you two being grabby earlier today. You looked pretty cozy to me.” 

“What?” Maya couldn't  _ believe  _ what she was hearing. First, Riley  _ lied  _ about Maya having those issues and now she was mad at them for  _ literally  _ bumping into each other? If anyone was to blame, it was the dumbass heehaw who didn't look where he was going. “No, that's not at all what it looked like.”

“Really?!” Riley challenged, raising her voice. “Because it looked like a repeat of what happened at the throuple date. Which you sure seemed to enjoy.” 

“You  _ are  _ jealous,” Maya scoffed in disbelief.  _ I just wish you were jealous of Lucas and not me.  _

“It looked like I had a right to be.”

“This was all about Lucas, it always has been!” Maya snapped, angry that something as dumb as a  _ boy  _ could make them fight. 

“Well, you know how much I like him,” Riley pointed out. 

“How can I not?! He’s all you  _ ever  _ talk about! You're like a...horny parrot — Lucas Friar, Lucas Friar, Lucas Friar!” Maya yelled. 

The raising of her voice made Riley a little bit scared, she rarely saw Maya get this angry. “Okay, maybe I overreacted,” she said, taking a deep breath. 

“No, you made yourself  _ perfectly  _ clear, Riley.” 

_ That you care more about this stupid cowboy veterinarian with his dumb blue eyes and Texas stories than you do about me.  _

“I know what role you want me to play, and I'm sick and tired of playing it!” Maya continued. “And I think we  _ should  _ break up.”

Riley was about to agree with them breaking up being a good idea and for the best but then Maya said something that scared the crap out of her. 

“For real.” 

“Peaches, come on!” Riley pled. “Let’s not fight!” 

But her words were lost on Maya who was now off the bench and back to her class. Which meant that Riley  _ really  _ pissed her off. Because she would never leave their session early and go back to  _ class _ , she was Maya Hart. Riley sighed and put her head into her lap. All of the sudden, it didn't matter whether Lucas and Maya were actually being grabby in the hallway. She didn't care about any of that if she didn't have Maya.  _ What have I gotten myself into? _

* * *

It was that day at lunch and Maya felt a little lost. Even though she knew she would be spending her lunch with Charlie, it didn't feel normal to not spend it with Riley. They had spent almost every lunch together since they were six years old. It was habit, it was expected, it was something they both looked forward to. But Maya had to remind herself that her anger at Riley was completely justified. Not only did she let her dumb crush blindside her, but she also lied about Maya having anger and violence problems. That entire subject in general was a touchy one for her because she always felt like if she hadn't met Riley, she might be like that. And she was pretty sure Riley knew it was a sore spot as well. As soon as she got in line for lunch, the television in the cafeteria which usually displayed the menu, along with the student’s phones, displayed the principal.

“Good day, Abigail Adams High School,” the principal said to the students. “We have some announcements to make but before that, we have a very special guest.”

Everyone looked around the cafeteria, no one knowing who the  _ special guest  _ was. 

“I know that everyone has been a little bit shaken up by the breakup of Riley and Maya. But Riley is here to say a few words.”

Maya wanted to disappear because she was so nervous and had no idea what Riley was going to say. At that time, Lucas had taken off lunch to go to the dugout but managed to look at his phone to see Riley’s announcement. He frowned, not really wanting to hear from Riley, but also being curious as to what she was going to say. 

“Thank you,” Riley said to the principal, as she walked on screen. “And thank you everybody for listening and giving me a chance to clear up any misinformation you might have heard.” 

Riley’s voice was quivering and she seemed like she could burst into tears any second. She was terrified to do this. This was  _ hard,  _ putting yourself out there was really hard. Especially for Riley, who despite trying not to, cared way too much of what other people thought of her. 

“I was the one who invited Lucas to the throuple date,” she admitted. Everyone could hear the shame in her voice. “Why? I don't know. What can I say? I'm confused. I don't know what I want.” 

Standing in the lunch line, Maya was gripping onto every word Riley was saying because she could tell it was genuine. Maya was also hoping that  _ I don't know what I want  _ and  _ I'm confused  _ line could apply to Riley’s feelings for Maya. 

“All I know is that I don't want to hurt a guy who's a really good guy.”

Maya couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit at that comment. She really didn't like Lucas. At the dugout, Lucas couldn't help but smile at that comment. Even though he was mad at her, Riley’s opinion still meant a lot to him. 

“And I don't want to lose Maya,” Riley’s voice cracked as she said this, on the verge of tears. “The person in the world who means the most to me. I never meant to hurt her. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

When Maya heard that, a smile graced her face. It didn't matter to Maya anymore that she had said that stuff about Lucas because everyone could tell that the person who Riley cared about the most was Maya. She ran out of the lunch line, forgetting all about food and Charlie Gardner, just thinking about Riley.

“So thanks for listening,” Riley said, as she wiped her eyes. She then saw Maya running into the studio room where she was recording the message and smiled through her tears. In a romcom-esque like way, they ran into each other’s arms and hugged each other, almost afraid to let go of the other. Everyone in the room started clapping, everyone (except for Lucas and Charlie) watching started clapping, it was a celebration. 

“I'm so sorry,” Riley choked out after they untangled themselves from each other. 

“It's okay,” Maya said in soft voice, wiping away some tears from Riley’s eyes with her thumbs. 

“I don't like it when we fight. Let's never fight again, okay?” Riley ran her fingers down Maya’s waist. 

“Never?  _ Us _ ? I'm going to be with you for the rest of our lives. We're gonna have some conflicts along the way. But we'll work them out, we'll  _ always  _ work them out. Because we're Riley and Maya.”

When Lucas saw that, he threw his phone in the dugout and went into the batting cage to blow off some steam for the rest of the lunch. Back in the studio, Riley and Maya exited to go finally eat their lunch. After they got their food, when they went to sit down, all of the people in the cafeteria were chanting at them to kiss. 

“Guess we should give the crowd what they want,” Maya said, with a bashful smile on her face. 

They both leaned in to kiss each other, but what Riley gave Maya was the kind of kiss that you give your grandmother. It was just a peck. Nothing like the kiss from the date the other night. But Maya didn't think anything of it. At least she was still kissing Riley, at least she was still with Riley. That was enough for her, for now. 

“So what do celebrities do when they get back together?” Maya asked, with a smirk, clearly making fun of how much Riley knew about this stuff. “Matching tattoos?”

“Look, I meant it when I said that this was all my fault,” Riley said quietly so bystanders wouldn't hear. “I never should have dragged you into this and I've been the worst friend.”

Maya was about to protest when Riley added, “Which is why I think we should still break up.” 

_ Ouch, I'll never get used to her saying that.  _

Maya's face fell. She was so happy and now she was just broken again. She knew that she shouldn't hope for too much, this is what happens when people hope for things. They get disappointed. They get hurt. They get sad. They get  _ heartbroken _ . 

“We’ll tell everyone in a few weeks when this all dies down,” Riley declared. And I know that means we're gonna have to keep pretending a little longer, but I promise I'm gonna spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

She then kissed Maya’s cheek and ran off, leaving the blonde to ponder everything that just happened. She knew that she should be  _ relieved.  _ Relieved that she didn't have to keep up this lie anymore, relieved that she didn't have to act like she wasn't in love with Riley when they were alone, relieved that everything would go back to the way it was. But she wasn't. She was the complete and total opposite. She frowned as she thought to herself,  _ what the hell am I doing? _

* * *

Before lunch ran out, Riley managed to run down to the dugout to find Lucas who was in the batting cage.

“Hey, can we talk?” Riley asked through the fence. 

“I'm busy,” Lucas replied, before hitting the ball with as much force as he could. 

“I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I screwed up on so many levels.” Riley ran her fingers through her hair, looking down at the ground. 

“Got it,” he snapped, hitting another. “I saw the announcement, Riley.” 

“I really wanna fix this,” she said, gripping to the fence. “Do you think that we can be friends?”

“I have enough friends.”

“Well I thought that we really connected,” Riley admitted. They had had some really deep conversations with each other that she hadn't had with anyone else. He was started to become one of her favorite people to talk to. “You know, telling each other things that no one else knows. And I've  _ really  _ started to care about you.” 

Throwing down his bat, Lucas came out of the batting cages and stood next to Riley. 

“This whole school thinks of me as some selfish, manipulative jerk,” Lucas said, frowning. 

“Not anymore, I made sure of it,” Riley assured him. “Nobody thinks that you're the reason we broke up.” 

“But that's the point. I  _ wanted  _ to be!” Lucas groaned, clenching his fists and his jaw. 

“What?” She furrowed her eyebrows, now Riley was just  _ confused.  _

“Look, I know coming in between you and Maya is wrong but I can't help it. I think I'm falling for you.”

“Then let me catch you,” Riley whispered as she drug him to the benches on the dugout. 

“Wait, what about Maya?” Lucas asked with caution. 

“She's my best friend and I love her. But we're not a couple anymore. We're faking getting back together until it blows over.”

Lucas opened his mouth to say something but Riley cut him off, “I promise. No one else knows. Just you.” 

Lucas laid Riley down on the bench, kissed her and Riley put her arms over her head so he could take off her shirt. 


End file.
